The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has sacked the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, from his seat as the member representing Ningi Central Constituency in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The appellate court in its judgment on Friday, ordered for a rerun in 10 polling units in the constituency.
Suleiman is the immediate past Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning Officer, Professor Shuaibu Muhammad, had declared him the winner of the Ningi Central Constituency election held on March 18th.
Suleiman, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, won with 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.
But not satisfied with INEC’s declaration of the results of the election, Abdulmalik-Ningi, approached the Governorship and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the State to seek redress.
But the Tribunal dismissed his case and affirmed the victory of Suleiman for 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.