As it draws to a close, Nigeria’s democracy, according to Hashimu Dungurawa, Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) Kano State branch, is in disarray.

In response to Friday’s Court of Appeal decision, which declared that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s victory was void since he did not possess a NNPP card at the time of his contest, he was responding to that.

According to him, Alhaji Yusuf was declared the NNPP’s primary election winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in an interview with Vanguard.

Dungurawa added that the court’s blatant disregard for evidence of Yusuf’s participation in the primary election of a party is scary for the nation’s democracy.

“It is INEC that is in a better position to tell you that because this man purchased his form from INEC, he filled and returned it back. And the same INEC declared him the winner after polling the highest number of total votes and was given the certificate of return.

“With this verdict, I will say sorry for Nigerian democracy. Because there is no how somebody goes to his community, campaign and people gave him their mandate and will get a popular vote but at the end of the day, the judges will do something else.

“You see in democracy, it is a game of numbers. There is no how people will go and cast their votes in millions and then a judge will just come overnight and cancel the votes and then another comes and say he has no powers to cancel the votes then go ahead to say you don’t have a card-carrying member of the party.”

He noted that Friday’s verdict is “shameful in democracy.”

“And how can you do such in a state like Kano where we won 26 out of 40 seats in the state assembly, we won 18 out of 24 members of the House of Representatives, which story do you tell the people? That you want to apply some technical issues.

“With this kind of attitude and actions by our judges, I am very sure democracy is coming to an end. Because nobody will go and waste his time to vote for anybody in 2027 because we know at the end of the day even if you win there are some judges that will deny you that right.

“And that is why we are saying no to the judgment and appealing to our people to remain calm and be law-abiding. And we are going to take it to the next level where I think we have people of high integrity. And justice will be done. Because if this continues to happen in our courts, there is a danger.”

Dungurawa reminded the judges that there is a life after this, and thus would be held accountable for their actions or inactions.