The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer for Kano in the 2023 General Election, Prof. Tijjani Darma has declared Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) as the winner of Kano Central Senatorial seat.
The candidate of the party polled 456,787 votes as against his closest rival, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura of All Progressive Congress (APC) who polled 168,677 votes, while Hajiya Laila Buhari of the People’s Democratic Party PDP secured 55,237 votes.
In a swift reaction, Agent of NNPP, Shehu Usman, accused INEC of refusal to have replaced Shekarau’s name with that of Alhaji Rufa’i Hanga, whose name was submitted to the Commission as replacement for Mallam Shekarau, who had defected from the party to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
It would be recalled that Malam Ibrahim Shekarau defected from NNPP to PDP after the conduct of party primary elections, and the NNPP then submitted the name of Alhaji Rufa’i Hanga as the candidate of the party to replacement Shekarau.
Meanwhile, the All Progressive Congress agent , Alhaji Yusuf Atta, has urged INEC to declare his party’s candidate, Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, as the duly winner of the election because Malam Shekarau did not participate in the election.
The Returning Officer, however, asked the Parties to lodge their complaints in writing to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Alhaji Rufa’i Hanga’s name did not pull through the final list of the Senatorial candidates on the INEC portal.
By Safrat Gani
