Governor of Kaduna state and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in the March 18 election, Uba Sani said there is no confusion in the state over Thursday’s tribunal judgment, which dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Isah Ashiru’s petition against Sani’s victory.
Sani stated this while speaking in an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, later that day.
Recall that the tribunal’s 2-1 majority ruling declared that if the petition were not dismissed for lacking merit, it would have ordered a supplementary election in 22 polling units within 90 days.
Meanwhile, some media platforms (not Vanguard) had reported that the tribunal sacked Sani – the APC candidate.
He said, “I think there’s no confusion there. Like I said, for some of us who were involved in the draft of the Electoral Act, there’s nothing like confusion there.
“The case was dismissed because it lacked merit. The preliminary objection to the application was made out of time. And of course, if you look at the Electoral Act, that alone has made their case abandoned. That is on the point of law. There are a lot of cases like that.”
The governor argued that a party could either win in a political battle “or you win a propaganda battle.”
Sani alleged that the PDP “misinformed and misled some very important media houses and I became extremely disappointed in them.”
He expressed displeasure over what he described as a rush of “reputable media houses” to the press without waiting for the final ruling.
Sani, while calling for caution, noted that the fight for freedom of expression via social media should not be undermined as he believes people should be allowed to express themselves.
He stated, “At the end of the day, for me, what is more important is that the ruling has been made, the case has been dismissed and there is nothing anybody can do because it is on the point of law.
“What the judges said is clear. There was a Supreme Court ruling already that judges are allowed to read all the applications by the opposing party. But in any case, that does not stop the case from being dismissed if there is anything that warrants that.
“And that’s what they do. They dismissed the case on the basis of the fact that they abandoned their own case,” Sani added.
Source: CHANNELS