Kano Local Government Elections- Court sacks all NNPP candidates

The Federal High Court has sacked all the 44 chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for the Kano State local government elections scheduled for Saturday,

The ruling was delivered in Kano on Friday by Simon Amobeda in a case filed by Muhammad Babayo and a faction of the NNPP challenging the party’s leadership.

Mr Amobeda ordered the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) to accept a new list of candidates submitted by the faction led by the recognised state chairman of the party, Dalhatu Usman.

“The defendant is hereby restrained from releasing the voters register for the 2nd Defendant to conduct the proposed election on 26th October 2024,” the judge declared.

The case listed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), KANSIEC, the Inspector General of Police, and the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) as defendants.

The federal high court had earlier sacked the KANSIEC chairman, Sani Malumfashi, over issue of partisanship.

The court also barred the security agencies from providing protection at the polling units if the election goes ahead without the updated candidates list.

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“The 2nd Defendant is hereby directed to accept as genuine and subsisting the list of NNPP candidates submitted to it by the recognized State Chairman, Dalhatu Shehu Usman,” the judge ruled, adding that “any other list submitted for the 2024 Local Government Election in Kano State should be rejected.”

“That the 3rd and 4th Defendants are forthwith restrained from providing security and protection to the scene of the Election plans to take place on the 26th October, 2024,” the court ruled.