JUST-IN: Appeal Court Sacks Bauchi Deputy Speaker

Days after nullifying the election of the Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has sacked the Deputy Speaker of the House, Jamilu Umaru Dahiru Barade of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The three-man panel of Justices, in a judgement delivered on Monday, set aside the judgement of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which earlier affirmed the election of Barade as the duly elected member representing Bauchi Central State constituency.

Consequently, the panel ordered rerun elections in some polling units in the constituency, where the appellant, Aliyu Abdullahi Ilela, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged over-voting.

The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retrieve the Certificate of Return earlier issued to the Deputy Speaker and conduct rerun election in the affected Polling Units before determining the eventual winner.

LEADERSHIP reports that the judgement came just a few days after the appellate court sacked the Speaker of the House, Abubakar Sulaiman.

Reacting to the judgement, one of the counsels to the Deputy Speaker, Barrister Aminu Balarabe Isah, said the number of polling units where rerun elections will be conducted was not clear, adding that due to time constraint, the judges only gave a summary of their judgement.

He said that the number of affected polling units will be known when the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement is made available by the court.

On his part, one of the lawyers of the APC candidate, Barrister UB Darazo, said the judgement was just and fair.

He said the APC and its candidate were thrilled and happy with the judgement.

“It is an indication that the 2023 elections in Bauchi were faulty,” he stated.