Sanusi Bature, the Chief Press Secretary of the Kano State Governor, expressed the Kano State government’s belief that the judges presiding over the Kano State Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal were subjected to intimidation by security agencies. During an interview on Channels Television, Bature raised concerns about the arrest of a judge by the Department of State Services (DSS) without apparent suspicion, suggesting that it was a form of intimidation.
He questioned the circumstances surrounding the virtual judgment delivered by the tribunal, as the location from which it was issued and the condition of the judges remained unclear. Bature implied that the judges may have delivered the judgment under duress, and their exact circumstances were unknown as they were only visible on the screen.
Bature also pointed out a significant development in the case, where the declared winner was not even a party to the proceedings. Nasiru Gawuna, who had contested in the election, accepted defeat, congratulated Abba Kabir, and publicly stated that he would not pursue the matter in court. This aspect of the case added to the perplexity surrounding the tribunal’s judgment.
He said that, “there is no reason why the DSS can arrest a judge without any suspicion. The DSS arrested one of the judges that delivered the judgement in Kano and I believe that is intimidation. Even this virtual judgement they delivered, we do not know where they delivered it from. Probably, they delivered the judgement under duress or whatever, I am not sure. We do not know the location from which they delivered the judgement and we do not know their condition because we could only see them on the screen. A lot of things happened behind the scene and to our surprise, the person who was declared winner was not even joined in the case”.
