Tribunal Nullifies Gombe Assembly Speaker’s Election
The State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Gombe on Tuesday, declared the election of Abubakar Mohammed Luggerewo as Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly invalid.
Luggerewo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were brought before the tribunal by Dr. Bashir Abdullahi Gaddafi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the illegal cancellation of results in four voting places.
Dr Gaddafi told the court that the election for Akko Central state constituency held on March 18 was marred by irregularities and massive rigging by the candidate of the ruling APC.
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In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Micheal Ugar, faulted the cancellation of results of the polling units 001, 024, and 014 of Kumo at the collation centre, after they were earlier announced at the respective polling units.
He said the petitioner had proved to the court the unlawful cancellation of his votes and returned the canceled votes to the petitioner, which resulted in Gaddafi’s merging over the speaker with over 300 votes.
However, the judge ordered a rerun in Kumo East 018, where votes were destroyed, to determine the winner of the Akko Central seat, between Luggerewo of the APC and Gaddafi of the PDP.
The tribunal also ordered the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Speaker Luggerewo and conduct a rerun election within the next 90 days of the judgment.
