Joy for Third Force Party, NNPP as Supreme Court validates the party’s position on Rufai Hanga as its lawful candidate for the Kano Central Senatorial District election and Senator-Elect
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The Supreme Court has affirmed Rufai Hanga as Senator-Elect for Kano Central Senatorial District under the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) platform.
The judgement delivered on Friday by Justice Emmanuel Agim, put to rest speculations on who will be sworn in as the District’s lawmaker after months of controversy between the NNPP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It thus kicked out a former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau as the NNPP candidate for Kano Central in the February 25 National Assembly Election.
In the judgment prepared by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, the apex court upheld the judgements of a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had earlier upheld the candidature of Hanga as the candidate of the party for the District. It thus held that the INEC’s appeal lacked merit as well as substance and dismissed it in its entirety
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The election management body had published Shekarau’s name in its official list of candidates for the Senatorial Elections across the country, despite protests by the NNPP that the former Kano governor had left its fold and withdrawn his candidacy due to irreconcilable differences he had with the party. The controversy thus led to a litigation against the electoral umpire.
The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had, in previous judgements upheld Rufai Hanga as the NNPP Senatorial Candidate for Kano Central. Rather than obey the court order, INEC took it upon itself and appealed the judgment up to the apex court.
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