A Federal High Court in Kano has disqualified all 44 New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) chairmanship and councillorship candidates for the local government elections in the state.

The election is scheduled to take place on Saturday despite a court ruling against it.

Justice Simon Amobeda’s ruling came after a case filed by Engineer Muhammad Babayo and a faction of the NNPP against the party’s leadership.

The court ordered the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) to accept a new list of candidates submitted by the recognized State Chairman, Dalhatu Shehu Usman. The judge also barred security agencies from providing protection at polling units if the election proceeds without the updated candidate list.

The case listed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), KANSIEC, the Inspector General of Police, and the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) as the defendants.

“The defendant is hereby restrained from releasing the voters register for the 2nd Defendant to conduct the proposed election on 26th October 2024,” the judge declared.

The judge added, “The 2nd Defendant is hereby directed to accept as genuine and subsisting the list of NNPP candidates submitted to it by the recognized State Chairman, Dalhatu Shehu Usman,” the judge ruled, adding that “any other list submitted for the 2024 Local Government Election in Kano State should be rejected.”

“That the 3rd and 4th Defendants are forthwith restrained from providing security and protection to the scene of the Election plans to take place on the 26th October, 2024,” the court ruled.