The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared erstwhile Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) as the winner of the Kano Central senatorial seat.
INEC’s returning officer, Prof. Tijani Darma, who declared the results on Monday in Kano, said Shekarau polled 456,787 votes.
He defeated his closest rival, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 168,677 votes, and Hajiya Laila Buhari of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 55,237 votes.
Shortly after the declaration, the NNPP’s agent, Shehu Usman, accused INEC of refusing to replace Shekarau, who defected from the party to the PDP.
He lamented that despite a court order directing INEC to accept the name of a fresh candidate, Alhaji Rufai Hanga, the commission refused to comply.
Similarly, APC’s agent, Alhaji Yusuf Atta, urged INEC to declare the party’s candidate, Abdulkarim Zaura, who came in second, as the winner because Shekarau did not participate in the election.
However, INEC’s returning officer, Darma, urged them to report their complaints to INEC and the election tribunal that would be set up.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Hanga did not make the final list of senatorial candidates released by INEC.
The electoral umpire instead published the name of Shekarau as the NNPP candidate, arguing that he has yet to officially inform the commission that he has left the NNPP and is no longer its senatorial candidate.
INEC said until that was done, as required by the electoral act, it could not replace Shekarau’s name.
(NAN)
