The federal high court in Kano has sacked all the chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for Saturday’s local government election.
On Friday, Simon Amobeda, the presiding judge, ordered the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) to recognise the list of candidates submitted by Dalhatu Shehu Usman, the factional chairman of NNPP.
Muhammad Babayo and a faction of the NNPP filed the suit against the party’s leadership.
The defendants are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), KANSIEC, the inspector-general of police (IGP), and the Department of State Services (DSS).
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The presiding judge nullified any list of candidates not submitted by the Usman-led NNPP faction.
Amobeda also ordered INEC not to release the voter register to KANSIEC for the conduct of the election and instructed the IGP and the DSS not to provide security cover for the polls.
“That the 1st defendant is hereby restrained from releasing the voter register for the 2nd defendant to conduct the proposed election on 26th October 2024,” the judge ruled.
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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 recognised state chairman, Dalhatu Shehu Usman, which is in accordance with the party constitution and rejects any list of candidates submitted to it by anyone else for the 2024 local government election in Kano state.
“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 of October, 2024.”
Saturday’s LG elections in Kano have stirred controversy with conflicting orders from different courts.
On Tuesday, a federal high court in Kano restrained Sani Malumfashi, chairman of KANSIEC, from conducting the LG polls because “he is a card-carrying member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)”.
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Amobeda delivered the judgment following a case filed by Aminu Tiga, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Friday, a state high court in Kano ordered KANSIEC to proceed with the conduct of the polls slated for Saturday.
Earlier during a campaign, Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano, said the elections would hold despite a court ruling prohibiting the process.
The NNPP is currently embroiled in internal wrangling as two factions are battling for the soul of the party.
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In Kano, one faction is controlled by Usman while another faction, which is loyal to Yusuf, is controlled by Hashimu Dungurawa.
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