The State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Gombe, on Tuesday nullified the election of Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Abubakar Mohammed Luggerewo.
Dr Bashir Abdullahi Gaddafi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dragged Luggerewo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the tribunal over illegal cancellation of results in four polling units.
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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.
In his ruling, 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 has proved to the court the unlawful cancellation of his votes and returned the cancelled votes to the petitioner, which resulted in Gaddafi’s merging over the speaker with over 300 votes.
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However, the judge ordered for 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.
Commenting on the ruling, the embattled speaker said he is not worried by the ruling of the tribunal, adding that the party will appeal the judgment of the tribunal.
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Also, the petitioner, Dr Gaddafi said he is confident of winning at the court of appeal, stating that the court is going to affirm the ruling, “because of the glaring evidence we presented at the tribunal.
“I am very confident of winning at the appeal court and subsequently I will also defeat him during the rerun election. Because I was leading with 361 votes against Luggerewo’s 16 votes when thugs destroyed the votes. And the unit is one of my strongholds,” he said.
