The sacked Kano Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Sadiq Aminu Wali, has revealed his intention to go to the Appeal Court after a Federal high court judgement nullified his candidacy as the party’s standard bearer in the state.
Daily Trust reported that on Thursday, the Federal High Court sitting in Kano declared Mohammed Sani Abacha, son of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, as the duly elected gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Kano.
The judgment, delivered by the Presiding Judge, Justice A.M Liman, was made virtually, where he ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expunge Wali’s name and substitute it with Abacha’s.
The court then recognized the primary election, held at Lugard House by Shehu Wada Sagagi’s faction, which produced Abacha imas against the one conducted by Wali’s side at Sani Abacha Youth Centre.
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Dissatisfied with the judgement, Wali, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, said he would reclaim his mandate at Appeal Court.
Daily Trust reported that the judgment of the Federal High Court in Kano recognizing Abacha as the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Kano state had brought a clog in the wheel of the presidential ambition of the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Recall that the Sagagi-led faction had been identifying with the Nyesom Wike’s presidential ambition against that of Atiku and had several times joined the call for the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, the national chairman of the party after the convention of the party.
A Court of Appeal judgment few weeks earlier had also ordered INEC to recognize Laila Buhari as the senatorial candidate of the party for Kano Central as a replacement for Danburam Nuhu, whose name was submitted by the national headquarters of the party. Buhari belongs to the faction of the Sagagi-led executives while Nuhu belongs to the faction loyal to Gwarzo.
Recall that Atiku Abubakar had identified with the Gwarzo-led faction of the party in the state when he was last in the state to receive former governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau into the party, a move analysts said further confirmed that Atiku knew the position of the Sagagi-led executives at the convention of the party, especially as the Sagagi-led faction has been accused of being loyal to the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. Sagagi has denied this allegation on several occasions.
Speaking to journalists in Kano, Wali called on PDP supporters to remain calm, saying that his lawyers are studying the “error-laden judgement” in preparation for appeal.
According to him, his lawyers had already discovered several errors in the judgement, which would give him a firm ground to reclaim what he described as “mandate of Kano people” at the Appeal Court.
Wali recalled that a PDP governorship aspirant, Ja’afar Sani Bello, had dragged him to court to challenge his candidature but won at the Appeal Court while expressing optimism that “we will win at Appeal Court God willing. We will be victorious and emerge winners of the 2023 elections by God’s grace.
“This judgement is riddled with errors but because I am not a legal practitioner, I cannot say much about this, but my lawyers will speak about it.”
On his part, Wali’s lawyer, Nasir Adamu Aliyu (SAN) said they had recorded more than 20 grounds for defense at Appeal Court.
According to Aliyu, Wali won at Appeal Court when Ja’afar Sani Bello filed a suit challenging his primary election after it was duly conducted and supervised by the national body of PDP.
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