The Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman has described his sack by the Court of Appeal as a minor political setback which is not new in politics.
The Speaker said that although the judgment was unfavourable, he is ready for a rerun, while urging his supporters to remain calm.
DAILY POST reports that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, removed the Speaker from his seat as the member representing Ningi Central Constituency in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The appellate court in its judgment on Friday, ordered a rerun in 10 polling units in the constituency following an appeal filed by Khalid Abdulmalik-Ningi of the All Progressives Congress, APC .
But in a statement issued shortly after the court verdict, Suleiman, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the ruling party in the state, boasted that the support and solidarity he has been enjoying in Ningi remains intact.
He added that no amount of effort to pull him down will succeed.
The statement entitled, ‘Court of Appeal’s ruling on Ningi Central Constituency: Bauchi Speaker calls for calm, confident of winning rerun’, reads: “Following the Court of Appeal ruling in Abuja today that set aside the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal that affirmed the election of Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Abubakar Y. Suleiman, as a member representing Ningi Central ordered a rerun in ten polling units, the speaker urged his supporters and all people of the constituency to remain calm.
“He said that although the judgment is unfavorable, as a Muslim he believes in all fates, thus he accepts the judgment in good faith.
“While describing the judgment as a minor political setback which is not new in his political career, the Speaker said that he is ever ready for the rerun election to add to the almost two thousand votes margin he gave his opponent.
“Rt. Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman states that the support and solidarity he has been enjoying in Ningi remain intact and no amount of effort to pull him down will succeed, adds that conducting a rerun in ten polling units that are his stronghold is just like a walkover, wondering why his opponents insisted on extending their pain of election defeat.
“He said that with the unprecedented infrastructural development initiated by Governor Bala Abdulkadir Muhammad in Ningi Local Government Area, PDP remains unbeatable in Ningi.”
