Musa Salihu Mubarak sacked as NNPP guber candidate in Kogi

Musa Salihu Mubarak, New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) governorship candidate for Kogi State in the November 11 election as been sacked by a Federal High Court in Abuja over unlawful substitution.
Mubarak was disqualified from running for governor of Kogi by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received his name falsely as a NNPP candidate.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Justice Omotoso ruled that Hon. Hassan Abdullahi, who had legitimately won the party’s primary election held on April 16, 2023, in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, be reinstated as the party’s flagbearer for the state.
In the April 16 Kogi State governorship primary election, Abdullahi received 303 votes, whereas Mubarak received just 10 votes, according to Justice Omotoso’s findings.
According to the court’s ruling, the submission of Mubarak’s name over that of Abdullahi was the height of unfairness and an obvious deception that could not stand.
The judge ruled that it was unlawful, illegal, null and invalid, and without any bearing whatsoever for Mubarak to submit his name to INEC and have it published after receiving only 10 votes.
The plaintiff’s name was submitted to INEC on April 28 along with Mubarak’s, according to Justice Omotoso, who also determined that Mubarak’s identity had been fraudulently recognized.
The judge ruled that Abdullahi’s name could only be removed from the list of candidates for governor by death or voluntary withdrawal because the popular and uncontested primary election was won by Abdullahi, as shown by the INEC monitoring report and his submission of his name.
Invoking Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022, the court ruled that Mubarak’s submission, recognition, and publication as the NNPP candidate for governor of Kogi were illegal conduct.
Justice Omotoso granted an order of perpetual injunction against NNPP, INEC, and their agents to prevent them from further depriving the plaintiff of the benefits of his victory in the NNPP primary election while also ordering the immediate publishing of the plaintiff’s identity.