A Federal High Court in Kano has once again nullified the candidacies of all 44 chairmanship and councillorship candidates from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
According to Reports, the ruling was delivered by Justice Simon Amobeda on Friday, which invalidated the candidates submitted to the state’s independent electoral commission in preparation for the upcoming elections scheduled for Saturday.
The court’s decision came from an originating summons filed on October 8, 2024, by a faction within the NNPP, represented by Engr. Muhammad Babayo and their legal counsel, Sunday Olowomoran Esq. The summons requested that the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) recognize only the candidate list from their faction as legitimate.
The defendants included the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first defendant, KANSIEC as the second, along with the Inspector General of Police and the Director of the Department of Security Services (DSS) as the third and fourth defendants, respectively.
The court order states: “The 1st defendant (INEC) is hereby barred from releasing the voters’ register for the 2nd defendant to conduct the upcoming election on October 26, 2024.
“Furthermore, the 2nd defendant (KANSIEC) is directed to accept the list of NNPP candidates submitted by the recognized State Chairman of the party, Dalhatu Shehu Usman, as valid, and to reject any other lists submitted by other individuals for the 2024 Local Government Election in Kano State.
“Additionally, the 3rd and 4th defendants (IGP and Director, DSS) are to be restrained from providing security and protection at the locations designated for the elections planned for October 26, 2024.”
