The Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Democratic Congress(NDC) has said it has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission over the exclusion of its governorship candidate, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, from the list of gubernatorial candidates for the 2027 election in the state.
The state chairman of the party, Husseini Mairiga, disclosed this in an interview with our reporter on Wednesday, following INEC’s directive giving affected political parties 14 days, ending October 24, to report complaints over the exclusion of their candidates.
Mairiga said the party had submitted its complaint through the national leadership and was awaiting the commission’s response.
He explained that the national chairman had directed affected state chairmen to submit complaints through the National Organising Secretary for onward transmission to INEC.
“We have already done this. We are just waiting for INEC to respond,” he said.
The NDC chairman said the commission had attributed the exclusion of its candidate to concerns over his party membership registration, insisting that Gwarzo was a duly registered member of the party.
According to him, the candidate registered with the party on May 5, 2026, at Gwarzo Ward, Kofar Fada polling unit, Gwarzo II, with membership number NDC 2026-KAN-457597.
Mairiga expressed confidence that a review of the party’s membership register would establish the candidate’s eligibility to contest the election.
He said the party expected INEC to verify the membership records before making a final decision on the candidate’s status.
The chairman urged party members in Kano State to remain calm while awaiting the outcome of the appeal, adding that the party would seek legal redress if the commission failed to include its candidate on the final list.
“We know that we did everything in order. If anything happens and they deny our candidate, we are going to court,” he said.
INEC had said its decision to exclude some governorship candidates followed a Supreme Court judgment delivered on September 24, 2026, which upheld the mandatory submission of political parties’ membership registers as a requirement for valid party primaries.
The commission said parties that failed to comply with the requirement were ineligible to sponsor candidates in the 2027 elections.
INEC subsequently gave affected political parties until October 24 to notify it of any complaints over the exclusions.
Credit: Leadership