A senator and former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, says his group will appeal Thursday’s judgment of the Court of Appeal that returned the control of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Mr Shekarau also accused the governor of incitement against members of his group in his remarks on Thursday’s judgment.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja set aside the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory which invalidated the ward and local government congresses of the APC in Kano State.
The lower court had delivered the judgment in a suit filed by a faction of the party led by Mr Shekarau, which had conducted parallel congresses. The court also declared the congresses of the plaintiffs as valid.
However, on Thursday, the appellate court said the lower court lacks jurisdiction over the case as it is not a pre-election matter but an internal affair of the party, which should be decided by the leadership of the APC.
The judgment hands the control of the APC in Kano back to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
The decisions of the appeal court were delivered by Justices Haruna Tsammani, Gafai and J. Amadi.
Following the ruling, the APC on Thursday presented a certificate of return to Abdullahi Abbas, a loyalist of Mr Ganduje, as the state executives elected at the state chairman of the party.
Speaking on the judgment, Mr Ganduje, in a video in which he spoke in Hausa and posted on Facebook by his new media aide, Abubakar Ibrahim, said “the useless G7 group has been crushed.” G7 refers to the Shekarau faction.
“This is the outcome of what they have done. We are thankful to the people of Kano State, APC members and all those involved in the struggle and we hope that the APC will present a certificate of return to Abdullahi Abbas.
“We shall continue to pray because this is not the end of the matter. We are going to restrategise and intimate our party leaders from the grassroots to the state to be prayerful and cautious about the useless G-7 group because they are still breathing. We will ensure that we crush them,” Mr Ganduje said.
