By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—Justice Audu Bako, a member of the panel hearing petition seeking to annul the election victory of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State, is dead.

Vanguard learned that Justice Bako died around 2p.m. yesterday at Primus Hospital, Karu, a suburb in Abuja, after a brief illness.

He was buried in his home town, Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, according to Islamic rites.

Bako was a member of the three-member panel of Yobe State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that had, on August 12, heard how Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, traced the origin of N15 million that was lodged into the bank accounts of a Resident Electoral Commissioner.