BREAKING: Appeal Court sacks Bauchi deputy speaker, orders rerun

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has sacked the Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Jamilu Barade.

The court also ordered a rerun in some polling units.

Barade’s sack came less than four days after the appellate court sacked the Speaker of the state assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, as a member representing the Ningi Central Constituency in Ningi Local Government Area of the state.

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

The three-man panel of the appellate court in a judgment delivered late Monday, set aside the ruling of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had earlier affirmed the election of Barade of the Peoples Democratic Party as the duly elected member representing Bauchi Central State constituency.

The APC candidate in the election had filed a petition at the tribunal challenging the declaration of Dahiru as winner of the election, claiming that there was overvoting in nine polling units, the tribunal however dismissed the petition.

But dissatisfied with the judgment, the APC candidate went on appeal to further his case which the Appeal Court decided in his favour ordering for a rerun in a number of the polling units.

The court further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to retrieve the Certificate of Return earlier issued to the Deputy Speaker and conduct rerun elections in the affected polling units before determining the eventual winner.

The court therefore ordered elections in some polling units in the constituency, where the appellant, Aliyu Ilela, of the APC, also alleged over-voting.

Similarly, the Appeal court also sacked the member representing Zungur/Galambi/Miri Constituency, Yusuf Ahmed, also of the PDP and ordered for a rerun in some polling units.

Meanwhile, INEC in Bauchi told journalists that it has not received any court order but is ready for the rerun within the stipulated time.

The INEC’s Officer in charge of Voter Education, Aliyu Shaba, said “We have not been served the court order but our lawyer said that we have 90 days. We are ready to obey the court. We are going to fix a date for the rerun.”

Counsel for the APC, U.B. Darazo said the judgment was just and fair stating that there was indeed over-voting in some selected polling units.

According to him, the appeal court in its judgment has ordered INEC to conduct rerun elections in the affected polling units.

Darazo said the APC is thrilled with the judgment as it is an indication that the 2023 elections in the state were “faulty”.