Bauchi State House of Assembly has elected Babayo Muhammad as its new speaker of the House.
The assembly equally elected Ahmad Abdullahi as the new Deputy Speaker.
This followed the nullification of the elections of the former speaker, Abubakar Y Suleiman and his speaker Jamilu Umaru Dahiru by the Court Appeal in Abuja, which ordered a rerun of some polling units in their constituencies.
Daily Trust had reported yesterday that following the leadership crisis that engulfed the assembly, the state governor, Bala Muhammad had met with the lawmakers behind closed doors where the choice of the new speaker was resolved.
The new Speaker was elected Wednesday at the plenary following a nomination by member representing Shira Constituency, Auwal Hassan who was seconded by member representing Burra, Tanko Ibrahim. The assembly unanimously accepted the nomination of Muhammad (Hardawa constituency) to become the speaker.
Both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker (Dass constituency) were then sworn in by the Clerk of the House, Umar Yusuf Gital, in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic.
In his acceptance speech, the new speaker promised to promote unity among members of the state assembly, adding, “My leadership will run an open-door policy, honestly and transparently without preferential treatment of members. We are all equal trying to work for the development of Bauchi State.
“I am always ready to receive constructive corrections and criticism that would provide dividends of development to our people,” Muhammad said
The Speaker thereafter directed the Clerk of the House to transmit to the executive the election of new presiding officers and the information that the house was ready to receive the governor today for the presentation of the 2024 budget proposal to the assembly.