The National Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali has said the party is waiting for the judgment of the Supreme Court on the winner of the senatorial ticket for Kano Central.
He expressed confidence that the party would reclaim the mandate from a former Kano State governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau.
Alkali told The Nation that the apex court is scheduled to deliver judgment tomorrow in an appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Shekarau, a sitting senator of the Ninth National Assembly on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), got the NNPP’s ticket ahead of the February 25 National Assembly election but had a disagreement with the party and returned to APC for the ruling party’s ticket and won the election.
Alkali said Shekarau resigned from NNPP and withdrew his senatorial ambition on the platform of the party just when the window substitution had closed, making the INEC to refuse to accept the new candidate presented by the party for the election.
“INEC said there are two conditions: resignation and death. The commission said since the window had closed for substitution, death is the only condition for substitution.
“We went to the lower court and got judgment in our favour. But rather than implement the court judgment, INEC went to the Court of Appeal and, again, we won. They went to the Supreme Court again. We are expecting the Supreme Court judgment on Friday (tomorrow).
“However, our Kano State office has gone to court to ask for relief stopping Shekarau from accepting the Certificate of Return. I guess that is why he was not there to receive it yesterday.
“The party is the one that is voted for and not the individual. So, we expect justice to be done”.
