JUST-IN: Appeal Court Sacks Deputy Speaker in Northern Nigeria

In a recent development, the Court of Appeal, seated in Abuja, has made another consequential ruling within Bauchi State’s political landscape. Following the annulment of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Speaker’s election days earlier, the Court of Appeal has now sacked the Deputy Speaker, Jamilu Umaru Dahiru Barade of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The three-member panel of Justices, in a ruling pronounced on Monday, overturned the verdict of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal that had previously validated Barade’s election as the legitimate representative for Bauchi Central State constituency.

Consequently, the panel has mandated rerun elections in specific polling units within the constituency, responding to allegations by the appellant, Aliyu Abdullahi Ilela of the All Progressives Congress (APC), regarding instances of over-voting.

This decision requires the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retract the earlier issued Certificate of Return to the Deputy Speaker and administer rerun elections in the affected Polling Units before determining the final winner.

This latest judgement arrives in the wake of the Court of Appeal’s recent removal of the House Speaker, Abubakar Sulaiman. Responding to the ruling, Barrister Aminu Balarabe Isah, representing the Deputy Speaker, expressed that while the judgement offered a summary due to time constraints, the precise count of impacted polling units would become clearer once the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement is available.

On the other side, Barrister UB Darazo, a legal representative of the APC candidate, praised the fairness and impartiality of the ruling, expressing the party’s contentment with the outcome. He highlighted the judgement as an indicator of discrepancies in the 2023 Bauchi elections.