At its Abuja session on Friday, the Court of Appeal dismissed Rt. Hon. Abubakar Suleiman, the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, from his position as a member representing the Ningi Central state constituency. The election that was held in the constituency on March 18, 2023, was ruled to be inconclusive.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was directed by the appeal court to hold new elections in ten polling places within the Ningi Central Constituency.
Remember how the Bauchi State National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal rejected Arch. Khalid Abdulmalik Ningi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for “lacking in merit” after he contested the declaration of Rt. Hon. Suleiman as the State Assembly election winner for the Ningi Central Constituency.
Arch. Ningi, unhappy with the decision, went to the Appeal Court to contest Sulaiman’s election win.
In the end, the Election Petitions Tribunal’s ruling, which had earlier upheld Suleiman’s election as a member of the State Assembly representing Ningi Central, was overturned by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
In response to the ruling, Rt. Hon. Suleiman asked all of the constituents, including his supporters, to maintain composure.
He claimed that despite the unfavorable ruling, he accepted it in good faith since, as a Muslim, he believes in fate.
The Speaker claimed he was always prepared for the repeat election, even if he described the ruling as a slight political setback that had happened before in his political career.
In a statement sent by his media assistant, Abdul Ahmad Burra, Suleiman said that the unity and support he has been receiving in Ningi are still there, and that no amount of pressure will be able to bring him down.
He went on to say that doing a rerun in his stronghold of ten polling places was practically a walkover and questioned why his rivals insisted on prolonging their agony over losing the election.
He claimed that the PDP is still invincible because of the extraordinary infrastructure development that Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed started in the Ningi local government area.
The expelled Speaker went on to say that despite persistent attempts by certain quarters to undermine him, he will not give up on his goal of delivering democratic benefits to the people of Ningi Central Constituency.
