APC’s Gawuna Backs Down, Salutes Kano Gov-elect, Abba Yusuf
The Deputy Governor of Kano State and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the March 18 election, Dr. Nasir Gawuna, has finally conceded defeat and congratulated the winner and candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf over his victory at the polls.
The congratulatory message came barely a few hours after the governor-elect picked up his certificate of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with a call on Gawuna to make good the earlier promise of accepting the outcome of the election as the will of God.
And in what seems like a prompt response to Engineer Yusuf’s call contained in his acceptance speech after receiving the certificate of return, an audio message shared by his Chief Press Secretary quoted the APC flag bearer as saying that in confirmation of the earlier statement on the will of God prevailing, he is praying that God would help Yusuf to be a true leader, who will be just to all.
“I want to remind the people of Kano state that, earlier during our campaigns, we prayed that if winning the election is the best for us, may Almighty Allah give us, and if it’s not, may He Almighty give us what is the best for us.”
Explaining that he has now accepted defeat in good faith, the message said; “I Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the deputy governor of Kano and the APC governorship candidate hereby express gratitude to almighty God and the people of Kano for coming out to vote for us on Saturday 18th March 2023.
“Supporters and lovers are aware that we petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the irregularities in the election and asked it to conduct a supplementary election in the affected polling units.
“But today, 29th March, the electoral body has reiterated that Abba Kabir Yusuf is the winner of the election as it issued him the certificate of return. I want to remind you that we have from the beginning prayed that if winning the election would be a blessing to us, may we succeed. If it is not, God should give us what is best for us.
“Therefore, I call on my followers and supporters to accept the destiny that comes to us. For the winner of the election, I pray for him to be a good leader that will practice justice for all. For us, may Almighty Allah guide us to be good followers to our leaders”.
Amid the alleged contentious figures declared by INEC, Gawuna had rejected the election result and petitioned the Electoral umpire to review the outcome, even as he also demanded that the governorship poll be declared inconclusive and supplementary election conducted in some polling units.
