Kogi court dismisses Mubarak, NNPP’s candidate for governor

Musa Salihu Mubarak has been removed from the New Nigeria People’s Party’s (NNPP) list of candidates for governor of Kogi State in the November 11 election by an Abuja Federal High Court due to illegal substitution.

On the grounds that his name had been falsely submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a candidate for the NNPP, Justice James Kolawole Omotosho disqualified Mubarak from the Kogi governorship election.

After legally winning the party’s primary election held on April 16, 2023, in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, Justice Omotoso ruled on Tuesday that Hon. Hassan Abdullahi be reinstated as the party’s flagbearer for the state.

At the Kogi State governorship primary election on April 16, Justice Omotoso determined as a fact that Abdullahi received 303 votes, while Mubarak received just 10 votes, to win the nomination election.

The submission of Mubarak’s name over that of Abdullahi was deemed by the court to be the highest instance of unfairness and a flagrant fraud that could not stand.

According to the judgement, it is unlawful, illegal, null and invalid, and has no bearing whatsoever that Mubarak’s name was submitted to INEC and published despite receiving only 10 votes.

On April 28, the plaintiff’s name was submitted to INEC alongside Mubarak’s, which had been illegally recognised, according to Justice Omotoso.

The judge ruled that Abdullahi’s name could not be removed from the list of candidates for governor because of his death or voluntary withdrawal because the INEC monitoring report showed that he had won the popular and uncontested primary election.

The submission, recognition, and publication of Mubarak’s name as the NNPP governorship candidate for Kogi were deemed unconstitutional conduct by the court, which invoked Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.

Justice Omotoso granted an order of permanent injunction against NNPP, INEC, and their representatives, prohibiting them from further depriving the plaintiff of the benefits of his victory in the NNPP primary election, along with an order for the plaintiff’s identity to be immediately published.