House of Reps retain Doguwa as majority leader

Following his victory in the House of Representatives rerun election in Tudun Wada/Doguwa federal constituency of Kano State, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa has been reinstated as the Leader of the House of Representatives.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, made this announcement shortly after Mr Ado-Doguwa was sworn in on Wednesday.

“The APC has resolved to retain Honourable Alhassan Doguwa as the Leader of the House,” Mr Gbajabiamila declared, to the cheers of his colleagues and observers at the Chamber’s gallery.

Ado-Doguwa’s return

Not satisfied with his fate at the polls, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Yusha’u Salisu, filed a petition against Mr Ado-Doguwa to the National Assembly election tribunal.

But the court dismissed the petition, saying Mr Salisu failed to prove the allegations of irregularities and over-voting in the election.

Not convinced, Mr Salisu headed to the Court of Appeal. There, Mr Ado-Doguwa, in November last year, got the boot of the Court of Appeal in Kaduna.

The appellate court, in a unanimous judgement, nullified the election that brought Mr Doguwa in, citing irregularities and the commission of “other parties from the final declaration of the result.”

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The court ordered the conduct of a fresh election within 90 days in the two local government areas under the federal constituency of the duo.

In the re-run election held last Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) again declared Mr Ado-Doguwa winner. He was said to have polled 66,667 votes as against his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival who scored 6,323 votes.

Being one of the oldest members of the House, having been elected for a fifth term, Mr Ado-Doguwa now would serve as the House Majority Leader, a position he initially held before his sack.

Mr Ado-Doguwa was first elected in the short-lived Fourth Republic in 1993. He was also first elected to the House of Representatives under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991.

Also, he has represented the Tudun Wada/Doguwa federal constituency since 2003, making him one of the longest serving lawmakers. He served as the Chief Whip in the eighth assembly, led by Yakubu Dogara.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Ado-Doguwa thanked the leadership of the House as well as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the president “for the role he played in ensuring his re-emergence as the leader of the House.”