The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the immediate past Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Sulaiman winner of the Saturday Re-Run Election in Ningi Central Constituency.
WikkiTimes reports that in November last year, a Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified the election of Sulaiman as winner of the March 18 2023 State Assembly Election in the area.
Also, the appellant court ordered INEC to conduct a Re-Run Election in about 10 polling units in Ningi Central Constituency. The decision of the court followed an appeal filed by Khalid Abdulmalik Ningi of the APC challenging the earlier victory of the former Speaker.
Professor Ahmad Abdulhamid, the Returning Officer of the Re-Run Election for Ningi Central Constituency, declared Sulaiman the winner of the poll with about 11,789 votes.
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However, the Returning Officer who failed to announce the votes scored by the candidates of other political parties that took part in the election, left the collation centre immediately.
“Based on the provision of INEC on the declaration of the winner, I wish to read as follows: I, Professor Ahmad Abdulhamid based on Form EC8 E1, which is the declaration of result, that Yakubu Sulaiman Abubakar of PDP having satisfied the requirements of the law and having scored the total votes of 11,785, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” he said.
However, the results of the March 18 election announced by INEC indicate that Sulaiman scored 16,866 votes to defeat his closest contender, Abdulmalik Ningi who scored 15,065 votes.
