Court of Appeal sacks Kaduna speaker

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the election of the Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Yusuf Liman, and ordered a rerun in five polling units.

A three-member panel of justices led by Justice O. O. Adejumo dismissed the speaker’s appeal and ordered a rerun in five polling units instead of 42 that were ordered by the tribunal.

The Kaduna State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal had on September 30 nullified the victory of Liman, who is representing Makera State Constituency and ordered a rerun in 42 polling units.

This followed a petition filed before the tribunal by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Solomon Katuka, challenging the election of Liman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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In his petition, the PDP candidate alleged that there were gross irregularities regarding the election of the speaker, arguing that he actually won the March 18 House of Assembly Election in Makera constituency and therefore ought to have been declared the winner.

With the appellate court judgment, APC has 17,470 votes and PDP 17,088.

The court ruled that the election of Liman was nullified on the lead margin principle, with the gap of 382 between the two parties less than the number of PVCs collected in the affected polling units.