Desmond Mgboh/Kano
Kano State Elections Petition Tribunal has invalidated the election of Shamshudeen Dambazau as the winner of the elections for Sumaila/Takai Federal Constituency.
The tribunal chaired by Justice Onyekan Abdullahi, while delivering judgement on the outcome of the National Assembly Election in the constituency declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in the said election.
Subsequently, the tribunal directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to the candidate of the political party with the next highest votes in the election.
Surajo Kanawa, the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, becomes the winner of the election, having secured the highest votes in the contest.
It could be recalled that Dambazau, son of the former Minister of Interior, did not contest the elections for Takai /Sumaila Constituency but became a beneficiary of the exercise, following a judgement of the Supreme Court, which declared him, and not Hon. Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the poll.
Meanwhile, Hon. Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila has called on the Presidency to urgently probe the circumstances resulting in the loss of the seat of Sumaila/Takai Federal Constituency at the elections tribunal.
Hon Kawu who is immediate past Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Reps), enjoined the Presidency and the party’s national leadership to be decisive on the matter by ensuring that all those that contributed to the loss of the seat were effectively sanctioned,
In a signed statement, he lamented that, “Had those who claimed to love the party sheathed their swords and withdrew the matter from the high court in the first instance, the party would not have found itself in the present quagmire”.