The Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed Rufai Hanga as Senator-elect for Kano Central Senatorial District under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

In the judgement prepared by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji but delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court held that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) appeal lacked merit and substance.

The apex court sacked a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim shekarau, as the candidate of the NNPP in the February 25 National Assembly election.

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Delivering the judgement in an appeal brought before it by INEC, the Supreme Court upheld the judgements of a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal both in Abuja which had earlier upheld the candidature of Hanga as the NNPP senatorial candidate.

The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, in their previous judgements, upheld Hanga as the senatorial candidate of the NNPP for Kano Central following Shekarau’s withdrawal 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, the INEC took it upon itself and appealed the judgement at the end of which it lost at the appellate court.

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

The Star