Five councilorship aspirants of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) from Zango Ward, Kano Municipal Local Government Area, in the forthcoming local government election scheduled for October, 26^th, have filed a petition against the State Commissioner for Higher Education, Dr. Yusuf Kofar Mata accusing him of interference in the selection process for the ward’s councilorship candidate.

In a petition addressed to the state chairman of the NNPP and sighted by SolaceBase, on Friday, the five candidates, who each paid fifty thousand naira for the nomination of interest form, alleged that the commissioner influenced the selection process for an aspirant of his choice to emerged, contrary to the party’s prescribed guidelines issued by the state leadership.

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Speaking to SolaceBase on Friday, Barrister Salehi Idris, representing the aspirants, confirmed that they had submitted their petition to the Kano State leadership of the party.

“On behalf of my clients, Najib Hassan, Yusuf Is’haq, Musa Sulaiman Garba, Jazuli Ado, and Abubakar Muhammad, I have successfully submitted the petition to the state leadership and other party stakeholders,” Idris said.

He further explained, “What the commissioner did was to set up a nine-member committee to screen candidates of his choice in his office, which violates party guidelines. Kofar Mata has no right to screen candidates in his office; in fact, he is not even part of the committee responsible for screening. However, he involved himself and screened the candidate he favored, securing him a nomination form, while ignoring those who legitimately purchased the nomination forms.”

“This is undemocratic, and we will ensure that my clients get justice from the Kano State leadership of the party. If justice is not served, we will take legal action,” Idris concluded.