The Kano State House of Assembly has confirmed that local government elections will go ahead as planned on Saturday, October 26, 2024, despite a Federal High Court ruling barring the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) from conducting the polls.
This stance follows a ruling on Tuesday by Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court in Kano, which disqualified the KANSIEC chairman and other commission members due to their political affiliations.
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However, the Kano State government has expressed its commitment to proceeding with the elections, even if security agencies like the police are unavailable to provide protection.
Lawan Hussaini Dala, Majority Leader of the Assembly, criticized the court’s ruling, claiming it contradicted a previous order by Justice Nura Ma’aji, which prohibited 19 political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), from challenging the elections.
“The Federal Court’s decision to remove the head of KANSIEC is in conflict with Justice Ma’aji’s ruling that stops political parties from interfering with the elections,” Dala argued.
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He further pointed out that a Supreme Court ruling requires all states to hold their local government elections by the end of October, which, according to him, justifies Kano’s decision to proceed as scheduled.
“We anticipated this outcome and have measures in place to ensure the elections go on as planned. Conducting the election does not violate the law,” he affirmed.
In light of the court order, Dala also called on young party loyalists to step in and provide security during the elections.
Previously, political parties had opposed the high fees initially set by KANSIEC for chairmanship and councillorship candidates, which were N10 million and N5 million respectively.
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However, a Federal High Court in Abuja intervened, leading KANSIEC to reduce the fees to N9 million for chairmanship candidates and N4 million for councillorship.
Despite the legal battles and objections, a Kano High Court granted an ex parte order on September 24, 2024, restraining political parties from obstructing KANSIEC ahead of the polls, allowing the commission to move forward with its election preparations.