Supreme Court affirms Hanga as Kano Central Senatorial District Senator-elect

The Supreme Court on Friday said a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, cannot be the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for Kano Central Senatorial District in the February 25 National Assembly election.

The court affirmed Rufai Hanga as the Senator-elect for the senatorial district on the platform of NNPP.

In a judgment prepared by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the court held that the appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacked merit and substance and therefore dismissed it in its entirety.

The apex court upheld the judgments of a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal both in Abuja which had earlier upheld Hanga as the candidate of the party.

The Federal High Court and the Court ofAappeal had in their previous judgments upheld Hanga as the senatorial candidate of NNPP for Kano Central following the withdrawal of Shekarau as a member of the party and senatorial candidate due to irreconcilable differences he had with the party.

However, rather than obeying the Federal High Court order, INEC took it upon itself and appealed the judgment at the end of which it lost at the appellate court.

Not satisfied, the electoral umpire proceeded to the Supreme Court to challenge the concurrent findings of the two courts which upheld Hanga as the lawful candidate of NNPP for Kano Central Senatorial District.

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