COURT OF APPEAL NULLIFIES ELECTION OF KADUNA ASSEMBLY SPEAKER
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Yusuf Liman’s election as Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly was declared void by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, and a rerun in five polling units (PUs) was mandated.
On September 30, the State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal declared Liman’s victory in the Makera State Constituency to be void and mandated a rerun in 42 voting places.
This came about as a result of a petition that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Solomon Katuka, filed with the Tribunal contesting Liman’s election to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP candidate claimed in his appeal that there were major irregularities in the Speaker’s election, contending that he should have been declared the winner as he had won the Makera constituency in the House of Assembly election on March 18, 2023.
There are 42 polling units total—37 in the Makera ward, 2 in the Barnawa ward, 1 in the Kakuri Gwari ward, 1 in the Television ward, and 1 in the Kakuri Hausa ward—that are impacted.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC candidate filed a cross-appeal requesting an outright declaration together with an appeal against the tribunal’s ruling.
However, the challenge court dismissed the challenge by the speaker and INEC and ordered a rerun in five polling units instead of the 42 that the tribunal had ordered in a ruling delivered by Justices O. O. Adejumo, A. O. Oyetula, and P. A. Obiora on Friday, November 24, 2023, in Abuja.
The concerned polling units are Television Ward PU 022, Kakuri Hausa Ward PU 045, Barnawa wards PU 005 and 009, and Kakuri Gwari PU 006, where the appellate court ordered a rerun.
As of right now, the PDP received 17,088 votes, while the APC received 17,470. The court decided that Liman’s election was invalidated because the 382 lead margin was fewer than the total number of PVCs gathered at the polling places that were impacted.
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