The Supreme Court sacked Senator Ibrahim Shekarau as the New Nigerian Peoples Party’s candidate for the 2023 general election on Friday and recognized Senator Rufai Hanga as the party’s candidate....CONTINUE READING
According to sources, Shekarau was named the victor of the 2023 Kano Central Senatorial District election under NNPP. Shekarau, a serving senator, was a member of the NNPP and was nominated to run for senator on its platform.
However, prior to the elections, he announced his departure from the NNPP and his intention to join the Peoples Democratic Party.
Nonetheless, the Independent National Electoral Commission later stated that he was still the official NNPP candidate, despite the fact that the party replaced him with Hanga.
Professor Tijjani Darma, the senatorial district’s returning officer, declared Shekarau for a second term in the red chamber.
Shekarau received 456,787 votes, defeating the All Progressives Congress candidate, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, who received 168,677 votes, according to INEC.
But, on Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Hanga’s candidacy as the NNPP’s genuine candidate. In a unanimous decision, the court’s five-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro criticized INEC’s unwillingness to replace Shekarau with Hanga when the former abandoned the party for the PDP before the election.
The INEC appeal was denied by Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgment prepared by Judge Uwani Abba-Aji.
The court, on the other hand, confirmed two previous concurrent judgements by the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, both in Abuja, which affirmed Hanga as the genuine candidate of the NNPP.
