TheCable

About 200 private legal practitioners have volunteered to assist Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano, in winning his election appeal case at the supreme court.

The lawyers under the aegis of “Abba Kabir Yusuf Volunteer Lawyers Forum” are drawn from the 19 northern states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Sunday, Yusuf Ibrahim, spokesperson for the lawyers, urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that the supreme court adjudicate the case without political interference.

The lawyers insisted that the judgment of the appeal court which declared Yusuf Gawuna, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was a miscarriage of justice.

“We volunteer as private legal practitioners to participate in the litigation in solidarity for Governor Yusuf at the supreme court of Nigeria,” Ibrahim said.

“We want to represent the truth in the fight to reclaim his mandate and that of the people of Kano state.

“We are hopeful that the apex court would do the right thing devoid of any sentiments and paying able and competent attention to happenings of the just delivered judgments.”

The lawyers also demanded a reworking of the Electoral Act adding that the court should not be allowed to declare another candidate as the winner of an election.

“It is pertinent to state here that the Electoral Act needs a holistic reworking to address these anomalies of our judicial system and democracy if we must save it,” he said.

“The attempts by court to conclude upon their findings to declare politicians as winners must also be divested of such powers. At best, order a re-run in the affected areas.

“The dangers are that, if this trend should proceed without being checkmated, then there would no longer be a need for open balloting and casting of votes by the general electorate.

“This is so as their mandate would be taken over by those who know the rules of the game and of course, it will no longer be a matter of who wins the election at the general voting posts.”