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The Supreme Court invalidated Shekarau's candidacy on Friday, March 10, 2023, and recognized Senator Rufa'i Hanga as the party's nominee for the Kano Central Senatorial District.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Shekarau as the victor of the Senate District election under the NNPP after the general election on February 25.
You might remember that the former governor of Kano state, who was nominated to run for senator on the NNPP platform, renounced his nomination and switched to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prior to the election.
Despite his defection to the PDP and the NNPP replacing him with Hanga, INEC declared that he was still the party's rightful candidate.
As a result, the electoral commission pronounced him the election's victor.
According to INEC, Shekarau received 456,787 votes, defeating Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, the APC candidate, who received 168,677 votes.
The Supreme Court, however, upheld Hanga's candidacy as the legitimate NNPP candidate.
In an unanimous ruling, the court chastised INEC for refusing to replace Shekarau with Hanga before the election. The ruling was led by a five-member panel headed by Justice Inyang Okoro.
