Tribunal Nullifies Election Of Gombe Assembly Speaker, Orders Rerun

The election victory of the Gombe State House of Assembly Speaker,  Abubakar Mohammed Luggerewo has been nullified by the State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal, sitting in Gombe took the decision on Tuesday while delivering judgement on the petition filed by Dr Bashir Abdullahi Gaddafi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Gaddafi in his petition, alleged that the election for Akko Central state constituency in the March 18 election was marred by irregularities and massive rigging by the candidate of the ruling APC.

The PDP candidate listed APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents in his petition before the tribunal in which he claimed there was an illegal cancellation of results in four polling units.

In his ruling on Tuesday, 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 added that the petitioner has proved to the court the unlawful cancellation of his votes and thereafter returned the cancelled votes to the petitioner, which resulted in Gaddafi’s emerging over the speaker with over 300 votes.

Justice Ugar also 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.