Bauchi: Court Of Appeal Sacks Assembly Speaker, Orders Rerun

By Akinwale Kasali

The Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, has been sacked by the Court Of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal Abuja Division, however, ordered a Rerun for the House of Assembly Seat in Ningi Central Constituency in Ningi Local Government Area.

The Appellate Court ordered that the Rerun will be  in 10 polling units in the Constituency.

Suleiman is the immediate past Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria. He took  over from Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.

With this verdict, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is expected to organize a Rerun in the said area within 90 days.

Suleiman was on March 18th, 2023, declared winner by the Electoral Umpire, INEC, having garnered 16, 866 votes to defeat his closest rival, Khalid Abdulmalik-Ningi of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 15, 065 votes while the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Danlami Bara’u scored 4,886 votes.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, AbdulMalik-Ningi  approached the Court and petitioned against the victory of Suleiman, the Peoples Democratic Party’s Candidate.

But the Bauchi State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the Case and affirmed Suleiman’s victory which  the Court of Appeal has now overturned.

In its judgment on Friday, the Appellate Court’s Three-man Panel, set aside the judgment of the Tribunal and ordered for a rerun.

Suleiman, through his spokesman, Abdul Burra, described the judgment as a minor political setback which is not new to politics.

He called on his supporters to remain calm.

In a statement entitled: ‘Court of Appeal’s ruling on Ningi Central Constituency: Bauchi Speaker calls for calm, confident of winning rerun’, he said:

“Following the Court of Appeal ruling in Abuja today that set aside the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal that affirmed the election of Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Abubakar Y. Suleiman, as a member representing Ningi Central ordered a rerun in ten polling units, the speaker urges his supporters and all people of the constituency to remain calm.

“He said that although the judgment is unfavourable, as a Muslim he believes in all fates, thus he accepts the judgment in good faith.

“While describing the judgment as a minor political setback which is not new in his political career, the Speaker said that he is ever ready for the rerun election to add to the almost two thousand votes margin he gave his opponent.

“Rt. Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman states that the support and solidarity he has been enjoying in Ningi remain intact and no amount of effort to pull him down will succeed, adds that conducting a rerun in ten polling units that are his stronghold is just like a walkover, wondering why his opponents insisted on extending their pain of election defeat.

“He said that with the unprecedented infrastructural development initiated by Governor Bala Abdulkadir Muhammad in Ningi Local Government Area, PDP remains unbeatable in Ningi.”

AbdulMalik-Ningi is yet to make a statement as regards the verdict of the Appeal Court.