The All Progressives Congress in Kano state has cautioned the leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State against dragging the chairman of the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, Hon. Justice Flora Ngozi Azinge, to disrepute due to its dismal defence performance at the tribunal.
Noting that the Kano State government is on a deliberate move to malign the tribunal chairman for fear of what could be possibly the final judgement,created a fictitious story and quoted the tribunal charman out of context.
The APC however, condemned the attitude and said that it amounted to disrespect for the judge and the judiciary in general.
A statement signed on Thursday, August 11 by the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs and Spokesperson for Gawuna/Gari Campaign Council, Mallam Muhammad Garba, mentioned that “when Hon. Justice Azinge made the revelation on the alleged attempt to bribe a member of the tribunal by a senior lawyer, she never named any particular party.”
According to him, in order to denigrate the APC, the NNPP government referred to the APC as the bribe giver. The action of the Kano State government is nothing but gimmickry and an attempt to also disparage the All Progressive Congress.”
Stressing that Kano State Government was also preempting the possible unravelling of the actual bribe giver by the tribunal and therefore wanted to malign the judge, Garba said that the allegation by the Kano State Commissioner for Information, Baba Halilu Dantiye revealed that the government was trying to vilify the tribunal before the judgement so that it draws sympathy from the unsuspecting public in the event it is defeated.
“To also further confirm how perplexed they are, they filed an appeal while the tribunal is still holding its proceedings, saying however that their action will not stop the election petition tribunal from going on with its sittings until it delivers final judgement.
“Even with an apparent sign of victory on its side, the APC has not and will never offer any bribe to anyone involved in the case considering that it has presented facts and figures to prosecute the matter before the tribunal”, Garba said.
Pointing that NNPP government had failed to present any tangible witness to depend on its case, Garba however, emphasised that the APC had presented all its witnesses during the proceedings of the tribunal who have been successfully cross-examined.