Appeal Court sacks Bauchi Speaker, orders rerun in 10 polling units

Abubakar Suleiman, the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, has been removed from his position as the member representing the Ningi Central Constituency in the Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State by the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.

In its ruling on Friday, the appeal court mandated a rerun election in ten of the constituency’s polling units.

Suleiman is the immediate past chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria.

He was proclaimed the victor of the March 18th election in the Ningi Central Constituency by Professor Shuaibu Muhammad, the Returning Officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission.

With 16,866 votes, Suleiman, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, defeated Khalid Abdulmalik-Ningi of the All Progressives Congress, who received 15,065, while Danlami Bara’u of the New Nigeria People’s Party received 4,886 votes.

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Abdulmalik-Ningi, however, was not happy with INEC’s announcement of the election results and sought remedy from the State’s Governorship and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

But the Tribunal rejected his claim and upheld Suleiman’s election to a second term in office.

Also not satisfied with the judgment, the APC candidate went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the tribunal’s ruling.

In its judgment on Friday, the appellate court’s three-man panel, set aside the judgment of the tribunal and ordered for a rerun.

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