In a significant ruling yesterday, a Federal High Court in Kano removed Prof. Sani Malumfashi from his position as the Chairman of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC). This decision raises concerns over the upcoming local government elections scheduled for October 26th. Justice Simon Amobeda made the ruling in response to a case filed by Aminu Tiga and the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The court found that the defendants, including Malumfashi, were registered members of the New Nigeria’s People Party (NNPP), which violates sections 197 (1) (b) and 200 (1) (a) of the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. According to the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission Law of 2001, this disqualification meant that they were unfit to serve as chairman and members of the commission.

The court’s ruling highlighted that Malumfashi failed to meet the qualifications needed for his appointment, notably that he was not an officer in the Kano State Civil Service at or above the rank of Director before being appointed as the Secretary of the commission, as stipulated by section 14 of the same law. Furthermore, the composition of KANSIEC’s members was found to be in violation of constitutional provisions.

As stated in Section 4 of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission Law 2001, without legitimately and properly appointed qualified individuals, the commission is unable to conduct the Local Government Election 2024 for the 44 local governments in the state.

The defendants in the case included KANSIEC, the Kano State House of Assembly, the Attorney General of Kano State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Director of the Department of State Services, and the Commissioner of Police for Kano Command, along with the State Commandant and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, among others.