Kano gov tussle: I have no case to answer —Ganduje

KANO State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has said that the suit filed by Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging his March 2019 victory can not be proven by the opposition.

This is just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer in Nassarwa Local Government Area, Professor Ibrahim Khaleel, dismissed the allegations of over-voting and violence which informed the cancellation of the elections in Gama ward.

According to Ganduje, PDP has failed to prove its case before the tribunal.

Counsel to Ganjuge, Ibrahim Mukthar, also said that Ganduje’s camp is not under any pressure to counter the allegations filed by the petitioners. He added that the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate presented only 39 out of its over 200 witnesses.

Mukthar said “they failed to produce the huge number of witnesses, so they did not prove anything, therefore there is no reason for us to bother.”

Also, Professor Khaleel, who was summoned before the state Election Petition Tribunal, said there was no formal report of cases of violence and over-voting during the governorship election held in Gama Ward.

According to him, INEC collation officer only failed to reconcile the results scored by the contestants, disclosing that he gave instructions to   the ward officer twice to reconcile the discrepancies in the ward results.

“I did receive a report about the cancellation of the results in Gama, but I did not cancel the results in Gama ward,” he said.

Justice Halima Shamaki adjourned hearing of the matter till tomorrow.