The Supreme Court recognized Senator Rufa'i Hanga as the New Nigerian Peoples Party's candidate for the 2023 general election after suspending Senator Ibrahim Shekarau on Friday.

According to reports, Shekarau was named the NNPP's candidate for the 2023 Kano Central Senatorial District. Shekarau, a senator at the time, was a member of the NNPP and was selected to run for senator on that party's platform.

Before the elections, he declared his departure from the NNPP and gave up his desire to run for senator in favor of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Even though the NNPP replaced him with Hanga, the Independent National Electoral Commission later insisted that it still recognized him as the legitimate candidate. Professor Tijjani Darma, the senatorial district's returning officer, declared Shekarau, who will be serving in the red chamber for a second term.

Alhaji Abdulkarim Zaura, the candidate for the All Progressives Congress, received 168,677 votes, while Shekarau received 456,787 votes, according to INEC.

However, the nomination of Hanga as the legitimate candidate for the NNPP was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday. A five-member court panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro faulted INEC's refusal to appoint Hanga as Shekarau's replacement after the former left the party for the PDP before the election in a unanimous ruling. The INEC appeal was denied by Justice Emmanuel Agim, who also delivered the lead judgment written by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji.

The Federal High Court and Court of Appeal's earlier, concurrent judgments affirming Hanga as the legitimate candidate of the NNPP, both issued in Abuja, were upheld by the court, though. Details to come...