Shekarau unfazed, as Supreme Court affirms Rufai senator-elect for Kano Central
Supreme Court, Friday in Abuja affirmed Malam Rufai Hanga as the senator-elect for Kano Central Senatorial District of Kano State under the platform of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
This is even as the former governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau who won the February 25 election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), refused to present himself to receive the Certificate of Return (CoR) from the electoral umpire during the presentation ceremony at the International Conference Centre, in Abuja, Tuesday.
Shekarau, also a former Federal Minister of Education and incumbent senator representing the senatorial zone, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) just before the start of the General Election but after securing the ticket at the primary poll of the NNPP but INEC kept his name on the ballot of the latter party.
While the NNPP insists it had made several attempts to inform INEC of a change in candidate, it also appealed to Shekarau to rejoin the party and claim his CoR, the former governor, however, vowed not to accept the certificate.
Delivering judgment in an appeal brought before it by INEC the Supreme Court upheld the rulings of a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal both in Abuja which had earlier upheld the candidature of Rufai Hanga as the Senatorial candidate of the party.
In the judgment prepared by Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji and delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Court held that INEC’s appeal lacked merit and substance and thereafter dismissed it in its entirety.
The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had in their previous judgments upheld Rufai Hanga as the Senatorial Candidate of the NNPP for Kano Central following the withdrawal of Ibrahim Shekarau as a member of the party and Senatorial Candidate due to irreconcilable differences he had with the party leadership.
However, rather than obeying the Federal High Court order, INEC took it upon itself and appealed the judgment 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 Rufai Hanga as the lawful candidate of the NNPP Kano Central Senatorial District.
Meanwhile, Shekarau, has insisted that he will not accept the NNPP Senatorial seat.
The former Kano governor, Tuesday, in a statement through his media aide, Sule Y. Sule vowed not to collect the Certificate of Return.
“We have already made our position clear on the issue. Senator Shekarau is not interested and will not collect the certificate of return.
“As a matter of principles and personal conviction,” Sule said.
