The National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano has affirmed Senator Rufa’i Hanga as the elected member of the Kano Central Senatorial District.
Rufai Sani Hanga of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has won the case brought by Abdulkarim Abdussalam Zaura of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was unable to establish non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2022.
DailyNews24 reported that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 senatorial election in Kano Central, Zaura, filed the lawsuit to contest Hanga’s victory on the ground that Ibrahim Shekarau, a former senator from Kano Central and former governor of Kano, was the NNPP candidate for the election rather than Hanga.
Zaura, through his counsel, Ishaka Dikko (SAN), prayed to the tribunal to declare him the winner of the election and set aside the INEC declaration that announced Hanga as the winner of the poll.
Justice I.P. Chima, however, dismissed the lawsuit as being without merit, pointing out that the NNPP had acted by substituting Hanga for Shakarau within the electoral act’s 14-day window.
Delivering the judgment on Monday, the three-man panel led by Justice I.P. Chima said, “The petitioner failed to prove non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022; therefore, the petition is hereby dismissed.
“Consequently, the petitioner is to pay the second respondent, NNPP, the sum of N300,000 and also to pay the first, second, third, and fourth respondents the sum of N300,000 as well.”
