The nomination of Rufai Hanga as the Kano central senatorial district candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has been affirmed by the Supreme Court.
Â
Ibrahim Shekarau, a former Kano governor who was earlier nominated by NNPP and declared winner of the election, was removed from the position by the apex court.
Â
Prior to the election, the former Governor announced his defection from the NNPP and abandoned his senatorial ambition to join the Peoples Democratic Party.
Â
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission insisted that it still recognised him as the legitimate NNPP candidate, even though the party replaced him with Hanga.
Â
Reeling figures from the election, INEC said Shekarau polled 456,787 votes to defeat the All Progressives Congress candidate, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, who polled 168,677 votes.
Â
Ruling on the case on Friday, March 10, the Supreme Court affirmed the nomination of Hanga as the NNPP’s authentic candidate.
Â
In a unanimous judgement, Justice Inyang Okoro-led five-member panel of the court faulted INEC’s refusal to replace Shekarau with Hanga after the former left the party for PDP before the election.
