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Wali challenges High Court judgment declaring Abacha PDP governorship candidate, heads to Appeal Court

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Sadiq Wali

Aminu Abdullahi

Sadiq Wali, the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kano state, has vowed to go to Appeal Court after he was sacked by a Federal High Court in the state.

KANO FOCUS reports that the Federal High Court 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 on Thursday.

The judgment, delivered by the Presiding Judge, Justice A.M Liman, was made via zoom, 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 over the one conducted by Wali’s side at Sani Abacha Youth Centre

Dissatisfied with the judgement, Wali, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, said he would reclaim his mandate at Appeal Court.

Speaking to journalists in Kano on Thursday evening, Wali called on PDP supporters to remain calm, saying that his lawyers are studying the “error-laden judgement” in preparation for appeal.

According to Wali, his lawyers had already discovered several errors on 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.

He expressed 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 riddle with errors but because i am not a legal practitioner, i can not say much on this, but my lawyers will speak about it,” Wali said.

On his part, Wali’s lawyer, Nasir Adamu Aliyu (SAN) said they had recorded more than twenty 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.

“We won at Appeal Court on the ground that any primary election, conducted by state chapter of the party, not national body, is null and void. Again, we were not party to the Ja’af toar’s suit, but the high court insisted that we must join the suit. Eventually, we won at Appeal Court.

“The Appeal Court rules that they do not have ground to file suit against Sadiq Wali because the primary election they conducted was not organized and supervised by the national body of the party. It was supervised by the state chapter and as such, it is illegal” Aliyu, SAN, explained.

He added that they would be served with the copy of the Thursday judgement in preparation for the appeal.

He said another error made by the judge was that the notice of primary election was served to national body of INEC, not state headquarters.

Against this backdrop, Aliyu explained that section 82 of the Electoral Act 2022 says notice of primary election should be served to national headquarters of INEC, not state, in not less than 21 days.

 “We served the notice before the deadline, but the judge declared the primary election illegal because the national body of PDP served headquarters of INEC not state headquarters. This is a big mistake. The PDP was on course to have served INEC national headquarters,” he explained.

The lawyer therefore disclosed that his Wali had given him the nod to file appeal today (Friday).

We saw it coming- Dambatta

Also speaking, Deputy Gubernatorial Candidate of PDP in Kano, Dr Yusuf Bello Dambatta said the party had predicted the judgement even before it was delivered.

According to him, the Wali faction was unfazed about the judgement because it has substantive grounds to challenge the decision at Appeal Court.

He expressed optimism that they would not rest on their ores until they reclaimed their mandate at Appeal Court and win the election to serve the people of the state.

Dambatta then appealed to the teeming supporters of PDP in the state to remain calm, adding that the judgement would not stop the party from continuing with its activities.

He added that they are preparing grounds to challenge the judgement, expressing hope that they would succeed at the Appeal Court.

Abacha, had via originating summon,  approached the court, praying it to declare him the winner of the Party Primary Election conducted on 25th May 2022.

He also prayed the court to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its officers, agents and privies from further recognising Sadiq Aminu Wali or any other person apart from parading himself as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Kano State for 2023 Governorship Elections.

Justice Liman however granted all the relief suits of Abacha on the ground that he was validly nominated during the primary conducted by the Wada Sagagi-led factional Chairman of the party, adding that votes cast for him remained lawful.

The Judge faulted INEC for removing Abacha’s name from the gubernatorial candidate list in the first place, declaring that by the tenure of the provisions of section 84 (1)(5)b of the electoral Act 2022, it is illegal, null and void for the electoral umpire to have withheld the name of Abacha who won the primary election and substitute him with Wali.

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Kano Governor-elect pledges to reintroduce Kwankwasiyya free education, healthcare schemes

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Aminu Abdullahi

The Kano State Governor-elect, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, has reaffirmed his government’s readiness to fix quickly the problems with the provision of potable water, basic education and good healthcare which are fundamental duties of a responsive government.

KANO FOCUS reports that the Spokesperson to the Governor-elect, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa revealed this in a statement issued on Friday.

Dawakintofa said, “despite huge tax payers’ money the outgoing administration claimed to have committed to the provision of basic water, Kano households strive in the twenty-first century to access safe drinking water in the State endowed with functional dams and resources to provide basic amenities.”

In his acceptance speech, the Governor-elect reassured Kano people that beyond fixing basic water supply, the incoming government will uphold the Kwankwasiyya philosophy with a wider scope of free education at primary and secondary levels involving provision of school uniform, learning materials, meals, conducive environment, paying SSCE fees for the students, training and motivation for the teachers to impart good quality education.

The incoming administration, which he said will be an off-shot of Kwankwaso administration, will be committed to free maternal and child healthcare programmes just as plans are underway for the upgrading of local health facilities across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano State.

To bridge the human capital gap in the various public institutions, Engr. Abba administration will rebirth Kwankwasiyya scholarship scheme for tertiary education and terminal degrees in special areas such as medicine, science and engineering in foreign countries.

It is a resolution that the incoming government will complete abandoned projects and continue with laudable populist policies of Kwankwasiyya administrations just as youth empowerment and enabling environment for MSMES and entrepreneurship to flourish will be provided as enshrined in the Campaign Blueprint.

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TMG, CISLAC, CSOs dismiss report calling for review of Kano Governorship Election

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Aminu Abdullahi

 

 

 

The Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, CISLAC and the Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room have distanced themselves from call seeking for the review of the Kano Gubernatorial Election.

KANO FOCUS reports that Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Chairman TMG on Saturday told journalists at a news conference in Kano the group which identified itself as Accredited INEC Elections Observers are “fake, faceless and politically sponsored”.

Rafsanjani who was flanked by the Convener, Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room, Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya lamented that the spread of the fictitious and malicious group at a time when Nigeria is having it’s political space heated up is not only worrisome, but also has the potential to further over heat the polity.

Mr. Rafsanjani, warned that “as genuine Transition Monitoring Group and Civil Society Groups are left without options but to take necessary legal actions against these faceless Group using their names to championed a Criminal minded, Politically Motivated and sponsored missions.”

Rafsanjani, warned that, “as Champions of Democracy, we will not allow smear-campaigners and people with politically motivated reasons drag credible Civil Society Organizations in Kano State and indeed in Nigeria at large into political wars with political parties”.

The CISLAC boss said “TMG, CISLAC and the Kano Civil Society Forum have done incredible Work towards electoral reforms in Nigeria, since 1998, TMG has Championed the Democratic path in Nigeria as the foremost elections Observation group with the widest membership across the Nation”.

He noted, “we will never interfere with the conduct of elections or seek to interfere with the Judicial processes leading up to a Redress of grievances resulting from the elections”.

For that the TMG called on public to disregard in totality the reports making round and using the names of credible organizations and called for the review of Governorship Elections in Kano.

Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya

Also in his speech, the Convener, Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room, Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya, urged the Media to filter credible Civil Society Groups from faceless, politically motivated sponsored groups who hide under the names of credible organizations to concoct fake stories that suits their narratives.

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Nigeria recorded 3.9m cyberattacks before, during, after governorship elections

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Mukhtar Yahaya Usman

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim aww Pantami has drawn the attention of the digital economy stakeholders and the general public to the ministry’s activities before, during, and after the 2023 gubernatorial and states’ houses of assembly elections.

KANO FOCUS reports that Pantami said the committee, which he inaugurated to monitor Nigeria’s cyberspace, recorded a total of 3,834,244 attacks, originating from both within and outside Nigeria, before, during and after the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections across the country.

According to a statement released yesterday by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and signed by the Senior Technical Assistant (Research and Development) to the Minister, Dr. Femi Adelusi, the daily breakdown of the attacks showed that on Friday 17th March, 2023, there were 1,046,896 cyberattacks; On Saturday 18th March, 2023, there were 1,481,847 Cyberattacks; On Sunday 19th March, 2023, there were 327,718 Cyberattacks and on Monday 20th March, 2023, there were 977,783 Cyberattacks.

The statement further stated that activities on the Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections, we’re much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract much attention of everyone, including cyberthreat actors than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

“The Minister is confident that the implementation of some recommendations as well as measures taken to fortify our cyber defence mechanisms might have helped in this,” the statement further said.

Pantami reiterated that the attainments would not have been possible without the continued support of President Muhammadu Buhari, in particular, and the administration in general, towards ensuring Nigeria’s successful transition into the digital economy.

“The digital economy sector has enjoyed Mr President’s unprecedented support and it is highly appreciated,” Pantami said.

Based on the Minister’s directives, the committee provided close oversight on the activities of the cybersecurity Centres, from Friday 17th March, 2023 to Monday 20th March, 2023.

During this period and as previously reported, a series of hacking attempts were recorded, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and Internet Protocol Spoofing (IPS) attacks, SSH Login Attempts, Brute force Injection attempts, Path Traversal, Detection Evasion, and Forceful Browsing, the statement further explained.

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