Confusion In Bauchi State House Of Assembly As Two Speakers Emerge

There’s alot of confusion at the moment inside the Bauchi State House of Assembly as members have elected two Speakers in separate elections.  

Eleven out of the 31 elected members of the Assembly as early as 7:00 am elected Abubakar Suleiman as the Speaker of the House.

Suleiman is a member representing Ningi Central Constituency and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Danlami Kawule a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Zungur/Galambi was also elected as the Deputy Speaker by the same group of lawmakers.

The situation took a twist as 18 members of House held a parallel election in front of the Assembly complex around 11:00 am. The members could not gain access into the chamber as it was locked so they decided to hold a parallel election outside the complex.  

The members stood in front of the statue of the Mace symbol and elected Kawuwa Damina as the Speaker of the House. Damina is a former Speaker in the 8th house of Assembly and a member of the APC.

He was returned in the parallel election through a voice vote.  The ninth Assembly inauguration was earlier scheduled to hold 10:00 am but the 11 members came early as 6:00 am to elect a Speaker and went ahead with the inauguration.