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), days after nullifying the election of the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.
In the same fashion, another appellate court sitting in Lagos State also yesterday affirmed the election of Siminalayi Fubara as the governor of Rivers State.
In the nation’s capital, a 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.
READ ALSO:Tinubu leaves Abuja to attend COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai
The court, therefore, ordered a rerun election in some polling units in the constituency, where the appellant, Aliyu Abdullahi Ilela, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged over-voting.
It further directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retrieve the Certificate of Return earlier issued to the Deputy Speaker and conduct a rerun election in the affected polling units before determining the eventual winner.
In Lagos, the appeal court also dismissed the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Patrick Tonye-Cole, against Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the courtroom yesterday, the APC candidate requested that the court order INEC to declare him the winner of the March governorship election in Rivers.
Cole’s case contesting Fubara’s election as governor was initially dismissed by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in October.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s judgment, the APC candidate approached the appellate court.
