The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has affirmed the election of former Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as the duly elected senator representing Kano Central Senatorial District and dismissed the appeal of the opponent, Senator Basheer Lado Garba and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lack of merit.
In dismissing the two appeals filed by both Senator Garba and the PDP in the state against the earlier verdict of the election tribunal, Justice Habeeb Abiru who delivered the judgement yesterday, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) complied with section 85 of the Act in giving the mandatory 21 days notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the primaries that led to the eventual substitution of Kwankwaso.
Insisting that the former Kano State governor was properly substituted in conduct of the election, Justice Abiru pointed out that the wishes and aspirations of the people of the central senatorial district of the state was to have Senator Kwankwaso as the senator representing them.
Justice Abiru, therefore, described the petition of the PDP and Senator Garba as “meddlesome interlopers,” stressing that it was without merit having been defeated by Senator Kwankwaso.
According to Justice Abiru, the appeal was an attempt to use the machinery of the Court in support to get what the appellants could not get through the ballot box, as he dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.