THE Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Friday, affirmed the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP’s candidate, Senator Rufa’i Sani Hanga as the Senator-Elect for the Kano Central Seat.
News Point Nigeria reports that, delivering the Judgment in an appeal brought before it by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court upheld the Judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court Of Appeal both in Abuja, which had earlier upheld the candidature of Rufai Hanga as the candidate of the party.
In the Judgment prepared by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji but delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court held that the INEC’s appeal lacked merit and substance and dismissed it.
News Point Nigeria reported that, former Kano State Governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, on Monday, was declared the winner of the Kano Central Senatorial District election under the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) despite his resignation from the party before the election.
The returning officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Kano central district, Tijjani Darma, said Senator Shekarau polled 456,787 votes.
The official said the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Abdulkarim Abdulsalam, came second in the election with 168, 677 votes.
However, after the declaration of the result, NNPP agent, Shehu Usman, rejected Senator Shekarau as the rightful candidate for the election.
He alleged that INEC refused to replace Senator Shekarau’s name with the candidate the NNPP nominated for the election, Rufai Hanga.
Mr Usman claimed there was a court order directing the INEC to accept the name of Senator Hanga as the right candidate for the election.
The Supreme Court’s judgement today has addressed that.
