Upset In Kwakwanso’s NNPP

<h4>Upset In Kwakwanso&&num;8217&semi;s NNPP<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Friday afternoon&comma;upset enclosed Engineer Rabiu Kwakwanso&&num;8217&semi;s New Nigerian Peoples Party&comma; NNPP as the Supreme Court on sacked Senator Ibrahim Shekarau as the candidate of the Party and recognised Senator Rufa’i Hanga as the party’s candidate for the 2023 general election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following the February 25 presidential and parliamentary elections&comma; Shekarau was declared the winner of the 2023 Kano Central Senatorial District election under NNPP&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shekarau&comma; a sitting senator was in the NNPP and was nominated to vie for the senatorial position under its platform&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; before the elections&comma; he announced his defection from the NNPP and abandoned his senatorial ambition to join the Peoples Democratic Party&comma; PDP&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the Independent National Electoral Commission later insisted that it still recognised him as the legitimate NNPP candidate&comma; even though the party replaced him with Hanga&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shekarau&comma; who is going to the red chamber for the second time&comma; was declared by the returning officer of the senatorial district&comma; Professor Tijjani Darma&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to INEC&comma; Shekarau polled 456&comma;787 votes to defeat the All Progressives Congress candidate&comma; Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura&comma; who polled 168&comma;677 votes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the nomination of Hanga as the NNPP’s authentic candidate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a unanimous judgement&comma; Justice Inyang Okoro-led five-member panel of the court faulted INEC’s refusal to replace Shekarau with Hanga after the former left the party for PDP before the election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Justice Emmanuel Agim&comma; who read the lead judgment&comma; written by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji&comma; dismissed the INEC appeal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The court&comma; however&comma; upheld the two earlier concurrent judgments by the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal&comma; both in Abuja&comma; that affirmed Hanga as the authentic candidate of NNPP&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;