Anxiety as Tambuwal, Ganduje's supporters seek God's intervention ahead of S/Court judgment
- Supreme Court would decide governorship tussles in Kano and Sokoto states on Monday, January 20
- The apex court had on Tuesday, January 14, sacked Ihedioha as the governor of Imo state
- Supporters of both governors have therefore gone spiritual to prevent Ihedioha's fate from befalling them
Apparently exercising fear over the scheduled Supreme Court judgement in the governorship tussle in Sokoto and Kano states, supporters of Governor Aminu Tambuwal and those of his challenger, Ahmed Aliyu, as well as Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, have gone spiritual.
Daily Trust reports the fear of being sacked by the apex court as being witnessed in Imo state on Tuesday, January 14, when the sitting governor, Emeka Ihedioha, was removed, has sent jittery to the camps of both Ganduje and Tambuwal.
Legit.ng gathered that the Supreme Court had on Tuesday, January 14, fixed judgment on the Sokoto and Kano governorship appeals for Monday, January 20.
It was learnt that the supporters’ fears were heightened by the shocking sack of Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP and the declaration of Hope Uzodinma of the APC as the duly elected governor.
In Sokoto, the APC’s Ahmed Aliyu is challenging the election of Governor Tambuwal. Aliyu is alleging over-voting and other irregularities in the election.
He polled 511, 661 votes against Tambuwal’s 512,002 votes after conclusion of collation in the re-run.
Source: UGC
According to the report, supporters of the top politicians were neck-deep in supplications to the Almighty God to turn judgment in their favour as the apex court delivers the verdicts on Monday.
“We are having special prayers over the governorship case. We usually seek divine intervention whenever there is a pressing issue in the state and that is what we are doing now,” a supporter of the Sokoto State governor said. “We are praying for the governor to triumph and for peace to reign in the state,” A supporter was quoted to have said.
APC supporters in the state were also not relenting in their prayers to achieve victory in the legal battle.
“We believe we have a very good case and we are praying that the judgment will be in our favour,” an APC official said.
The newspaper also noted that besides the fervent prayers, both the PDP and APC in Sokoto have expressed optimism on victory.
The PDP state secretary, Kabiru Aliyu, said: “We are positive that it is going to be in our favour because all the circumstances of the case point to the fact that there is nothing that would change.”
“The judges would confirm the decision of the people and the lower courts.” He however said the special prayers were not officially organised.
“The special prayers are a voluntary initiative of some people who are sympathetic to His Excellency,” Aliyu explained.
The APC publicity secretary, Sambo Bello Danchadi, on the other side, said: “On prayers, we have been doing that for God knows how long. We have been praying all along and we shall keep on praying, we pray for success. We expect victory but we know it’s in the hands of God. We are very positive, God willing, we shall be victorious.”
In Kano state, Governor Ganduje’s election is being challenged by Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the PDP who claimed that he was winning the election in majority of the local government areas of the state before it was suddenly declared inconclusive and a re-run was ordered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He also alleged widespread irregularities in the March 23 re-run election.
The battle between Ganduje of the APC and Yusuf of the PDP has almost been taken over by a local group popularly known as Sojojin Baka.
The Sojojin Baka, according to the report, have dominated virtually all political programmes being aired by private and public radio stations in the state.
While supporters of the PDP candidate were confident that the judgment would be in their favour as a follow-up to the Imo state case, supporters of the incumbent governor were equally sure of victory as they view the two cases as entirely different scenarios.
A supporter of Governor Ganduje, Alhaji Aminu Yakubu, opined that PDP followers should allow the court to do its work, saying, “The propaganda they are cannot change the situation, they have been spreading false information on the social media that Kano and Imo case are same, hence the court will declare Abba Gida-Gida winner on January 20.
“This, to me, is like they are jumping into confusion in a matter that is not theirs, they should rather allow the court to do its job.”
Aliyu Isyaku says although the matter is before the court, the PDP has a better chance than the APC in the case.
“We have all witnessed what happened in the case of Imo State, the outcome is an indication that the PDP will win in the Kano case," he said.
Kano state commissioner for information, Malam Muhammad Garba, told the newspaper that it was rather deceptive and an unjustified attempt by the opposition party to compare the Imo case to that of Kano.
He said what worsened the situation was the disruption of the collation of the said results by the PDP agent.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 14, Emeka Ihedioha, as the governor of Imo state.
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Jubilation as Supreme Court declares Uzodinma Imo state governor | - on Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
