Nigeria would have been on fire if Supreme Court had sacked Gov Yusuf – Galadima

A chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said that chaos was averted in Kano State last Friday, thanks to the Supreme Court’s judgements upholding the election of Governor Abba Yusuf.

Had the court swung the other way, Galadima warned, “Nigeria could have been on fire.”

In an interview on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics,” Galadima, a vocal critic of the All Progressives Congress (APC), thanked President Bola Tinubu, whose party had initially challenged Yusuf’s victory. “I am congratulating Mr. President for not interfering with the judiciary,” he said. “Nigeria could have been on fire by now if what happened on Friday did not happen.”

“I congratulate him (Tinubu) for having the strength of character and you can see that peace has pervaded the whole of Nigeria and our rating in the eyes of the world has come out,” he added.

Galadima said there was a plan to wrest power from the NNPP in Kano as the party kicked out the APC from the seat of power in the last poll.

“There was a plan to take Kano by force from every level, but I congratulate the Supreme Court for restoring the honour, dignity of the judiciary.

“If they had ruled otherwise, they could have been stoned on the street of Nigeria and nobody could be able to ride a car with the inscription of Supreme Court of Nigeria, and there would have been a total of confidence in the judiciary and I don’t think anybody would ever dream of going to the Supreme Court to seek redress,” he said.

The state, long a battleground between APC and regional heavyweight Rabiu Kwankwaso, saw Yusuf, Kwankwaso’s ally, declared winner in March 2023. However, both the tribunal and the appellate court overturned the result, awarding the seat to APC’s Nasir Gawuna. This triggered protests in Kano, raising fears of broader instability.

However, the Supreme Court’s intervention, reinstating Yusuf as governor, brought a wave of relief.