APC Issues 72-hour Ultimatum Over Alleged Compromise Of An FCT Judge

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The All Progressive Congress, APC, has  debunked claims by the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, suggesting that the Kano State authorities allegedly paid out millions of Naira to influence the court In a  recent case involving the party in Abuja.

This is as the APC issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Kano State Chapter of the NNPP to either withdraw the offensive allegation or face a legal action.

The Source reports that the the faction of the NNPP loyal to the Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso-led Kwankwasiyya movement had, on Tuesday, accused the APC-led Kano state Government of engaging in underhand dealings that resulted in what it described as the pervasion of Justice by a Federal Capital Territory FCT High Court.

An FCT High Court had earlier on Tuesday ruled to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognizing or engaging with any other leadership of the NNPP apart from the one led by Dr Agbo Gilbert Major.

However, the verdict did not go down well with the Kwankansiyya-backed NNPP faction who described the  decision of the Court to assume jurisdiction over a matter that is already before the Court of Appeal, as a blatant and brazen abuse of the judicial process.

In a statement from Ladipo Johnson, its National Publicity Secretary, the Kwankwasiyya movement-backed faction noted that the FCT High Court action represents a new and dangerous low in the country’s judiciary history.

While  describing the judgment and the action of  the Judge as a  textbook example of judicial rascality in which a Court of coordinate jurisdiction audaciously sat on a matter before a Court of Appeal, the NNPP faction alleged a grand and desperate plot to destabilise the party ahead of the 2027 election..

The Kano State Chapter of the faction, was to amplify the situation late on Tuesday , with an allegation  that the Kano state Government ,in collaboration with the APC, employed monetary inducement in securing the FCT High Court ruling.

But reacting to the development,the Kano state APC dismissed the allegations by the Kano NNPP spokesperson Ibrahim Karaye as  baseless , misleading and lacking in evidence.

The APC maintained that the accusation is primarily aimed at  discrediting the judiciary.

The APC in a statement issued by its spokesperson Auwalu Soja Gwale specifically distanced  Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf and his administration from any involvement in the court action between the NNPP factions .

This is as the party strongly rejected claims by the NNPP that the Kano state Government paid several millions of Naira to secure the FCT High Court judgment.

The party expressed serious concern that such wild claim ,has become a consistent,but disturbing pattern of what it described as “reckless rhetorics and mischief by some individuals within the NNPP in Kano.

While urging the Kwankwasiyya faction of the NNPP to  concentrate on resolving its internal disputes, the APC warned that it will be left with no other option than to seek a legal redress if within three days the NNPP fails to apologise.