INEC lists Shekarau as NNPP senatorial candidate — despite defection to PDP

Rising from a meeting on Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) approved the final list of candidates for the 2023 elections. 

The list includes the name, party, educational qualification, and age of each candidate for seats on the presidency and national assembly. 

Ibrahim Shekarau, a former Kano governor and senator currently representing Kano central, also made the list.

However, checks by TheCable showed that Shekarau is listed as the senatorial candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) — a party he had dumped in August. 

TheCable had reported how Shekarau officially defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after accusing Rabiu Kwankwaso, the NNPP presidential candidate, and his supporters of not accommodating his loyalists.

“All the agreements we had with him were betrayed by Kwankwaso and his boys and they did not accommodate one single person from my camp,” Shekarau had said.

“We reached an agreement to accommodate my supporters into various elective positions in the party, but until now, the committee set up could not accommodate one single person apart from the senatorial slot given to me.

“I will never be a party to injustice. My integrity is utmost and not any political position that will make me compromise it and that of my people. Nobody will use position or money against my integrity.”

Meanwhile, in May, Shekerau had left the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the NNPP after months of leadership tussle with Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano.