The court faulted INEC for refusing to replace Shekarau with Hanga before the election.
The Supreme Court has sacked Ibrahim Shekarau as the senatorial candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party in Kano state.
The apex court on Friday, March 10, 2023, nullified Shekarau’s candidacy and recognised Senator Rufa’i Hanga as the party’s candidate for Kano Central Senatorial District.
Following the February 25 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Shekarau as the winner of the Senatorial District election under NNPP.
You’ll recall that the former governor of Kano state, who was nominated to contest for the senatorial election on the platform of the NNPP, abandoned his ticket and dumped the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the election.
Despite his defection to the PDP, INEC insisted that he remained the legitimate NNPP candidate, even though the party replaced him with Hanga.
The electoral commission, therefore declared him the winner of the election.
According to INEC, Shekarau scored 456,787 votes to defeat the All Progressives Congress candidate, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, who secured 168,677 votes.
However, the Supreme Court has affirmed the nomination of Hanga as the authentic candidate for the NNPP.
In a unanimous judgement led by Justice Inyang Okoro-led five-member panel, the court faulted INEC for refusing to replace Shekarau with Hanga before the election.
