Hours after the Abdullahi Ganduje faction of the Kano State All Progressives Congress defeated the Ibrahim Shekarau group through an Appeal Court ruling, the State Governor has appealed to Shekarau camp to consider reconciliation.
Ganduje made the appeal while addressing correspondents at the APC National Secretariat on Thursday.
Earlier, The PUNCH had reported that the Ganduje-led faction on Thursday defeated the Shekarau-led faction at the Appeal Court in a suit over the leadership structure of the state chapter of the APC.
The Appeal Court in Abuja held that the lower High Court lacked jurisdiction to recognise Shekarau’s faction.
It also held that the case was not a pre-election issue but an internal party tussle.
Therefore, it should be decided by the Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee.
Responding to the judgement, Ganduje appealed to the defeated faction to cooperate with him in building the party.
He said, “I am appealing to them (Shekarau-led faction) because we are members of one family, the APC. Kano State is almost 100 per cent APC, we should come together and forge ahead in such a manner.”
Ganduje also confirmed that the APC national leadership had handed his own state Chairman Abdullahi Abbas his certificate of return.
He said, “First of all, we have to thank God for this very important victory at the moment. The APC of Kano State has gotten a judgement that all the elections we conducted from the wards to the state level are legally recognised.
“I want to thank the party and the leadership for initiating the peace move to ensure that our party is united. I have to thank the party for that. A judgement has been passed in our favour, and APC stakeholders in Kano are here to show our appreciation to the leadership of the party.
“We have the house leader, senator, other representatives, representatives of the 44 local government chairmen, state assembly members, elected councillors from Kano state, and to you the members of the press for covering all the court proceedings.”