Gentlemen of the press, this is another great opportunity and rare privilege to rise in defence of our democracy, and the sanctity of our judicial system. As you may know, The Guardians of Democracy And Rule of Law is a group of lawyers dedicated to the defence of the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria.
We are constrained to address this Press Conference to bring to the attention of Nigerians to the campaign of calumny by one Prof. Kperogi and some other anti-Democratic elements against the Honourable Justices of the Court of Appeal in its determination of the elections petitions in Kano State.
The actions and unguarded utterance of these persons are, at best, an assault on the judiciary due to the avalanche of sponsored diatribes against the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kano State.
As a body of lawyers dedicated to the defense of the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria, we wish to draw the attention of the vast majority of Nigerians to the implication of the actions of Kperogi and others on the reputation and integrity of the Court of Appeal.
While it is succinct to state that the Justices of the Court of Appeal delivered a sound judgment in line with the provisions of the law, the diatribe perpetuated by the NNPP and its hirelings like Kperogi and others smacks of mockery and an attempt to ridicule the judiciary.
It must be stated that Abba Kabiru Yusuf’s nomination as the Candidate of The NNPP for the March 18 Kano State Governorship election was in clear breach of Section 177(1c) of the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended, which states “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party”. A combined reading of the above provisions of our law and Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 which also mandates each political party to make its membership register available to INEC not later than 30days before the date fixed for the party’s primaries and the fact that Abba K. Yusuf who never validly resigned his membership of the PDP, he was still a member of the PDP 30days before the NNPP governorship primaries, shows that as the Court of Appeal rightly held, Abba K. Yusuf was not qualified to contest the Kano state March 23rd governorship election in the first place as he failed to meet the qualifications set by the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria to be validly elected governor of a state.
The deduction 165,000 votes from the total votes cast for the candidate of the All Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) in the March 18 Kano governorship election by the Court of Appeal is also a very sound and well reasoned judgement predicated on the strength of Section 63 of the electoral act 2022, as amended, which mandates INEC not to count ballot papers that do not bear the official mark of the commission.
We wish to also, very importantly, warn Nigerians of the dangers the NNPP through it’s subsidiary, the Kwankwasiyya group, poses for our young democracy. A group that adopts violence, falsehood, destruction and flagrant breach of our laws as it’s tactics to win elections in Nigeria if not quickly checked, will soon bring our democracy to it’s knees. The Kwankwasiyya movement is unfit for our democracy and civil society. We urge the NNPP group to immediately severe every ties with the movement!
This anti-Democratic tendency of the group has been much evident in the serial campaigns of calumny and tantrums it has continued to throw at the respected honourable justices of the Court of Appeal instead of towing the path of democracy and rule of law by appealing the judgement if it is dissatisfied with the ruling.
We further observed that the ultimate aim is to cause disrepute to the Justices of the Court of Appeal and discredit the judiciary’s impartiality in Nigeria. This action is an affront and an assault that must be rebuffed.
We lawyers can no longer afford to adopt an observer position while the judiciary is continuously harangued and brought to public odium by this lawless set.
We therefore wish to reiterate our willingness to defend the judiciary and urge them not succumb to blackmail but to dispense justice without Fear.
We also want to use this opportunity to warn the NNPP, Kwankwasiyya group, Kperogi and other anti-Democratic elements to desists immediately forthwith from campaigns of calumny against our hallowed temple of justice and the bench. The impartiality of the judiciary in Nigeria is never in doubt. An independent, strong, respected, and respectable judiciary is indispensable for the impartial administration of Justice in a democratic State.
The importance of the Judiciary in the electoral system cannever be overemphasized, we therefore enjoin all Nigerians to continue to show support and solidarity for the Judiciary which has proven countless times to be the last hope of the common man.
Finally, we wish to invite the DSS, Nigerian Police Force, and other relevant security outfits in Nigeria to take notice of the unguarded utterances of the above names persons and organizations against the bench and deal with the matter expeditiously while providing the needed security for uninterrupted justice dispensation in Nigeria.
