Danladi Abdullahi Sankara is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator for the Jigawa North-West constituency of Jigawa State

Jigawa State

-Location:Jigawa State is one of thirty-six states that constitute Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is situated in the north-western part of the country between latitudes 11.00oN to 13.00oN and longitudes 8.00oE to 10.15oE. Kano State and Katsina State border Jigawa to the west, Bauchi State to the...

, Nigeria in the April 2011 elections. Danladi was running on the People's Democratic Party

People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)

The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...

 (PDP) ticket.

Early political career

In November 2001 Danladi was the National Ex-Officio member of the PDP and Chairman of the Elders Committee of the Party in Jigawa State.
Dr. Danladi Sankara was a contender for the Senate seat in 2003 on the PDP platform, but was defeated by Dalha Danzomo of the All Nigeria People's Party

All Nigeria People's Party

The All Nigeria Peoples Party is a conservative political party in Nigeria. At the last legislative elections , the party won 27.0% of the popular vote and 92 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 27 out of 109 seats in the Senate...

 (ANPP), who was supported by the then Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Saminu Turaki

Saminu Turaki

Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Jigawa State in Nigeria. He was a Jigawa state chairman of SDP and UNCP .-Background:...

, at that time also a member of the ANPP.
Before the next election, Turaki defected to the PDP and successfully won election as Senator for Jigawa North-West on the PDP ticket.

Before the 2011 elections Danladi was PDP vice chairman in charge of the Northwest.
He had been elected to this position on 4 March 2008, and resigned on 24 December 2010 so he could compete for election to the Senate for Jigawa North-West.

Senate election

For the April 2011 elections the PDP promoted Danladi's candidacy to represent the party over the incumbent Senator and former Jigawa State governor Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, who defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Danladi won the PDP primaries to become candidate.
In the election, Danladi won 195,412 votes, defeating Turaki of the ACN who gained 148,595 votes, Muhammad D. Alkali of the Congress for Progressive Change

Congress for Progressive Change

The Congress for Progressive Change is a political party founded in Nigeria in 2009 in preparation for the April 2011 elections.It is the 63rd political party to be founded in the country and also the last political party to be registered in Nigeria....

(CPC) with 42,237 votes and Muhammad Nasiru Kiri of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with 20,744 votes.
Turaki claimed that vote rigging had occurred in two of the twelve local government areas and threatened to challenge the result in court.