The Supreme Court has overturned the March 25th election of Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano State, as the senator-elect for Kano Central on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The top court instead confirmed Rufai Hanga as the senator-elect for the Kano Central Senatorial District on the NNPP platform.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appealed the court’s decision, and the court confirmed the decisions of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, which had earlier supported Rufai Hanga’s candidacy for the senatorial zone in the recently completed election.
The Supreme Court determined that the INEC’s appeal lacked merit and substance and dismissed it in the decision written by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji but delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim.
Following the resignation of Ibrahim Shekarau as a party member and senatorial candidate due to purported irreconcilable differences with the party, the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal recognized Rufai Hanga as the NNPP’s candidate for Kano Central. Instead of complying with the Federal High Court’s order, INEC unsuccessfully challenged the decision to the Appeal Court.
The electoral commission went to the Supreme Court to contest the decisions that affirmed Rufai Hanga as the legitimate candidate of the NNPP Kano central Senatorial District because it was dissatisfied with the Trial and Appellate Courts’ rulings.
