Following the Supreme Court’s judgement on eight governorship cases yesterday, former Kaduna senator Shehu Sani lauded the Apex Court on Saturday for upholding the people’s mandate.
Sani, who also congratulated the governors of Kano and Plateau states on their Supreme Court win in a series of tweets on his official X account, noted that the survival of democracy in Nigeria largely depends on the rule of law.
Sani’s post on X partly reads, “In today’s rulings, the Supreme Court has taken the side of justice by upholding the mandates of the people. It is recoupling and resetting itself. The survival of our democracy is dependent on credible elections and rule of law reinforced by an independent judiciary.”
News About Nigeria reported that the apex court decided the fate of eight governors, including Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, and Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State.
The Supreme Court also ruled on those of the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, the Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, and Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State.
The Court, in its judgement, affirmed all the election victories of the governors, dismissing the appeals against them by opposition parties and their candidates.
The governors of Kano and Plateau states are said to be the major beneficiaries of the court’s judgement because the court reinstated the governors who were initially sacked by the lower court.
The election victories of Governor Abba of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Caleb Muftwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were nullified by the Court of Appeal’s judgment because the governors were not qualified to run for the election in the first place.
The appellate court also cited other reasons why the governors were sacked; however, the apex court’s judgement voided the judgement of the lower court on the ground that it lacked merit.
