Anxiety as Court of Appeal sacks PDP Deputy Speaker

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and deputy speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Dahiru Barade, has been sacked by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.

This is coming barely a week since the court sacked the speaker of the House, Abubakar Suleiman, who is also a member of the PDP in the northern state, The Nation reported.

Why appeal court sacks Bauchi deputy speaker

The three-member panel of the court nullified the verdict of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had earlier affirmed Barade as the winner of the Bauchi Central constituency.

It, therefore, ordered rerun of elections in some polling units in the constituency, where the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Aliyu Abdullahi Ilela, have alleged that there was over-voting.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was then ordered to retrieve the Certificate of Return issued to the deputy speaker while rerun election will be conducted in the affected polling units of the constituency.

It, therefore, ordered rerun of elections in some polling units in the constituency, where the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Aliyu Abdullahi Ilela, have alleged that there was over-voting.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was then ordered to retrieve the Certificate of Return issued to the deputy speaker while rerun election will be conducted in the affected polling units of the constituency.

APC reacts as Court of Appeal sacks PDP Bauchi deputy speaker

Reacting to the verdict of the court, APC and Ilela's counsel, UB Darazo, stated that the judgment of the panel was just and fair, affirming that there was indeed overvoting in some polling units in the constituency.

With the outcome of the court today, the Bauchi state House of Assembly currently lacked leadership as the speaker and his deputy have been sacked by the Court of Appeal, a development that could lead to political unrest in the state.