The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP

  • APC, PDP prepare for Adamawa supplementary poll

    Victory in the governorship election may go either way in Adamawa State between the All progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Parry (PDP).

    The outcome could hardly be predicted, as all factors place both parties and their candidates on equal rating.

    The APC is the government in power, but the PDP had governed the state previousely and had retained popularity in many communities as the APC. The Buhari bandwagon in the APC and the Atiku Abubakar factor in the PDP, which influenced voting during the presidential election of February 23 would not count for much.

    Governor Jibrilla Bindow of the APC has a history of performance to help his reelection bid Umaru Fintiri, a former Speaker of the House of Assembly, who became an acting governor in 2014 has earned for himself the reputation of a notable achiever in less than three months in power.

    Both candidates campaigned widely Fintiri had an edge. Bindow  had more money to oil his way and cover the gap.

    Fintiri hit the lead and maintained it, gathering 367,471 votes.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) adjudged the election inconclusive on the premise that the difference between the 362,471 and Bindow’s 334,995; which is 32,467, is lower than the number of registered voters in 44 polling units (PUs) where voting was cancelled.

    How did PDP’s Fintiri manage to achieve his lead in the election against the uncertainty that preceded the election?

    When results of quite a number of LGAs had been collated at the collation centre in Yola and Sen Abdul-Aziz of the African Democratic Party (ADC) was noticeably making the third best candidate, voices at the centre began to remark that Abdul-Aziz who was in the APC before the election and whose father remained in the APC, had become a spoiler in the game at the expense of APC’s Bindow.

    “Bindow must begin now to realise that he made a grave mistake in not retaining the goodwill of the Nyako’s,” a voter said.

    Abdul-Aziz Nyako got 113,205 votes, a figure which someone again noted would have made all the difference for Bindow if the senator had not left for the ADC.

    Bindow is being blamed for Abdul-Aziz’s ‘adventure’ by people who accuse him of distancing himself from Abdul-Aziz’s father, Murtala Nyako, and creating enmity that gave the Nyakos the justification for Abdul-Aziz to seek Bindow’s job in another party, even while Murtala Nyako remained in the APC.

    Bindow’s critics say ex-governor Murtala Nyako, because of his close relationship with Bindow’s father, helped Bindow to become senator in 2007 and then helped him in 2015 to become governor, but that Bindow curiously ‘dumped’ Murtala Nyako immediately he (Bindow) became governor, refusing to have anything to do with the Nyakos thereafter.

    “If Bindow had not alienated himself from Murtala Nyako the way he did with many notable people, he would not have lost this election,” a critic emphasized.

    Bindow’s APC thinks differently, however. The party insists that Bindow would have won the election outrightly, without a need by INEC to declare it inconclusive if certain irregularities had not marred it.

    “We want to bring it to the notice of the public that we reject these results as they have been received. We have itemised the local governments that card readers were not used, there were overvoting and intimidation of our agents,” said Comrade Mustapha Salihu, the APC National Vice Chairman (North-East).

    Salihu, who called for a probe of some election officials, added: “We strongly feel this election was marred with irregularities.”

    A low performer in the governorship election is the Social Democratic Party (SDP), whose candidate, Chief Emmanuel Bello, created huge visibility for himself and the SDP in the runup to the election through intensive campaign.

    Bello, a former House of Representatives member, was all over the state, and did the most comprehensive campaign among the four most promising of the 29 candidates.

    He was always going to come fourth, considering the longer standing pedigrees of the other three candidates: Bindow, Fintiri and Abdula-Aziz. But, he was expected to get a lot more votes than the 29,785 that he managed to gather in the end.

  • ‘PDP, APC guilty of electoral fraud’

    Civil society groups in Akwa Ibom State have said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were involved in electoral fraud during the general elections.

    According to the groups, the February 23 and March 9 elections were characterised by voter inducement and intimidation.

    Chairman of Civil Societies Forum Harry Udoh said voters were induced and harassed by the two foremost political parties.

    According to Udoh, findings show that the two parties started buying votes since last December last year.

    He said: “If you ask me if people were induced or if there was vote buying, I will say yes, though I can’t substantiate it. The strategy was such that I think they started buying people’s minds from last December.

    “The massive voters’ intimidation and vote-buying were perpetrated by both parties. Nobody can change my mind on that. Perhaps the party with the biggest amount of money got the day, but people actually went to the polling units and voted.”

    Udoh also absolved the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini of partisanship.

    He specifically said Igini never vowed to frustrate the APC from winning elections as alleged by the party’s spokesman, Eseme Eyiboh.

    “Each time Mike Igini met with civil society organisations, I was always there as the chairman of civil societies forum. We never had that kind of discussion except I was not there when he said that. It is not true that he made that kind of statement,” Udoh added.

  • INEC to hold Ekiti Assembly supplementary poll March 23

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday said that it had fixed the only constituency poll for the Ekiti State House of Assembly that was not concluded on March 9 to March 23.

    The election in Ekiti East Constituency 1 had been declared inconclusive by the INEC, following reported cases of violence and other factors.

    INEC’s Administrative Secretary in the state, Dr Muslim Omoleke, who also doubles as the Commission’s Acting Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state announced the new date in Ado Ekiti.

    He asked those political parties that would be participating in the supplementary election to be getting ready.

    He assured the parties that the commission would not deviate from the tradition of neutrality and fairness in the forthcoming supplementary election.

    He said that the election would hold in five polling units in the constituency area, in line with the directive from the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    NAN reports that the election of Ekiti East Constituency 1 was suspended by INEC on March 9, when the house of assembly and governorship elections were being held across the country.

    The INEC official had declared the results in the other 25 constituencies which were in favour of the ruling APC.

    Omoleke said that INEC would meet with the security agencies during the week and brief them on the need to be well prepared for the conduct of the supplementary election.

    He explained that the commission decided to suspend elections in the polling units, thereby making the outcome inconclusive, in line with its promise to be neutral and be fair to all contenders in any election.

    “We are prepared for the election and we will not deviate from the practice of fairness and neutrality to all political parties.

    “We will meet the security agencies this week and brief them on how the conduct will look like, so they can plan their own strategies on how to deliver a free, fair and credible election.

    “We have already received materials from the headquarters and they are being kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria, the materials are under safe custody.

    “We want to assure voters that we will not let them down. Let them come out massively and vote and we assure them that their votes will count.

    “INEC did not disappoint in the conduct of the presidential, the state and national assembly elections in Ekiti, this also will not be an exemption,” Omoleke said.

    NAN

  • Rivers: PDP tells INEC to declare its candidate winner

    Following the results of the fact finding committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the manifest disruption of the collation of the results of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly general elections by the Army and the Federal-State Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), the state PDP has called on INEC to announce its candidate as winner of the election.

    This is contained in the statement by the Rivers State PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, and made available to The Nation yesterday.

    The Rivers State PDP said it has accepted the pronouncements INEC made, after receiving the report of the fact finding committee, as substantial representation of the true state of the electoral process before the suspension.

    According to the statement, “After a thorough and holistic review of the report and findings of its Committee, INEC has in a release on the night of Friday 15th March 2019 made three fundamental verdicts on the elections in Rivers State, as follows:

    “It has the complete collated results of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in 17 local Government Areas of the State in safe custody;

    “21 out of 32 State constituency results of the state had already been declared and returned as elected prior to when it suspended the electoral process in the state; and it would on 20th March 2019 issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election in the state.”

    The Rivers State PDP, however, wished to draw the INEC’s attention to the fact that in addition to the 17 local government areas with fully collated results, the elections also successfully held and results declared at the unit and ward levels in five of the six other local government areas where full collation of results is still pending.

    The Rivers PDP therefore urged the INEC to follow its guidelines to fill the missing gap, if any, in the collation process “for the remaining five local government areas by generating the full results from the unit results already in its custody and declare our candidates the clear and unassailable winners of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.

    “We commend the INEC for standing by the truth and for its courage and principled determination to ensure that the votes of the people of Rivers State as freely and overwhelmingly expressed on the 9th of March 2019 in favour of the PDP effectively count.

    “We also commend the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Yusuf Tukur Buratai, for inaugurating the Major-General TA Gagariga’s led Committee to probe the allegations of misconduct, including the assassination attempt on our Governor, His Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike by soldiers during the 2019 general elections,” the statement added.

    The party also called on the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed Adamuto, to institute a similar panel to probe the brazen involvement of the Rivers State Commander of F-SARS, Mr. Akin Fakorode, and his gang of police operatives in the organised invasion of polling units, collation centres, abduction of electoral officers and the shooting and killing of innocent persons during the general elections at Khana, Gokana, Ikwerre, Eleme, Tai, Oyigbo and Ogu/Bolo local governments of the state.

    Nigerian wanted in Texas on child pornography charges still detained in Canada

    A Nigerian on the run from the law in the United States of America (USA) remains in detention in Canada six months after consenting to extradition.

    Adesanya Prince is wanted in Texas, USA, for alleged child pornography.

    He crossed the border to Canada on foot illegally and was consequently arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which turned him over to Canada Border Services agents.

    His lawyer, Sabrina Lapolla, who represented him at his extradition hearing last year, abruptly left the case in November.

    He said he was “surprised to hear he’s still in Canada.”

    The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of “promotion of child pornography” in Harris County, Texas, on Feb. 23, 2018. He was scheduled to be sentenced on May 10 but instead fled to Canada. He crossed at Roxham Road on March 9, 2018.

     

  • PDP accuses INEC chairman of refusing Atiku access to election materials

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, of refusing the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar access to election materials.

    The Court of Appeal had ordered INEC to allow Atiku’s lawyers inspect ballot materials used in the February 23 presidential election, in furtherance of the petition filed by the PDP candidate against President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election. However, in a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said that Yakubu and the leadership of INEC have refused to obey the order of the appellate court, given on March 6, 2019.

    The PDP described INEC’s actions as deliberate and wicked ploy, and accused the electoral body of acting in cahoots with the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), to frustrate the case.

    The main opposition party further said that INEC’s action was meant to ambush the case, adding that it’s a deliberate plot to knock Atiku off the timeline prescribed by law for the PDP and its candidate to file the case at the Tribunal.

    The statement said, “It is imperative to inform Nigerians that upon obtaining the lawful order of the Court, directing INEC to forthwith, avail Atiku Abubakar and the PDP copies of all the documents and other materials used for the Presidential election, our legal team wrote to the INEC Chairman on the 11th and 12th of March 2019 respectively, causing the Order to be served on INEC and requesting access to the said documents and materials.

    “Despite being served with the Order and several follow-ups, the leadership of INEC has refused to grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the materials and documents, notwithstanding the urgency of the matter.

    “This action by the leadership of INEC has further exposed that it has been heavily compromised by the Buhari Presidency to rig the February 23, 2019 Presidential election and to frustrate the quest by Nigerians to reclaim the mandate from President Muhammadu Buhari and save the nation from the crisis of an illegitimate government.

    “The leadership of INEC and the APC are seeking to frustrate our court option, seeing that the documents and materials will expressly show that Atiku Abubakar clearly won the election by the votes directly delivered at the polling units across the country as well as expose how the commission and the Buhari Presidency manipulated the results for President Buhari.

    “The PDP cautions the INEC to note that Nigerians are now aware of its manipulative tendencies and that any further delay in granting access to the materials might attract public odium.

    “INEC should therefore end its unpatriotic partisan shenanigans with the APC and immediately obey the Court of Appeal and grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the documents and materials and free itself from unholy entanglement with the APC against Nigerians.”

     

  • APC, PDP in battle of wits ahead supplementary polls

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are locked in a battle of wits as the clock ticks towards this weekend’s governorship supplementary elections in some states.

    While the  PDP chairman in Kano State, Alhaji Rabi’u Suleiman Bichi  is boasting that his  party is  ” always ever prepared to win ”  the  election, the  APC dismisses  the statement as wishful thinking .Leaders of the two parties in Sokoto State are also racing against time to tidy up loose ends ahead of the Saturday supplementary polls.

    “We are more than ready, especially as we have won the election conducted on the 9th of March. We are happy that the security agents have ensured security of lives and property of everybody by protecting the electorate,” Bichi told The Nation in Kano.

    “We have already won the election. The only thing left for us now is to consolidate on the areas where the rerun will be held. We have no fear as we are battle ready for the rerun.”

    But the Kano Commissioner for Information, Youth and Culture, who doubles as the Chairman, Publicity Committee of the Kano APC Campaign Organization, Malam Muhammad Garba dismissed PDP’s position as wishful thinking.

    He said: “we are very confident of victory because the local government areas where the rerun will take place remains an APC stronghold and the electorate in these areas have made up their mind to vote massively for the Governor they trust.

    “I believe that from what is happening, we are very much prepared this time around; and as such, there is no cause for alarm because we have been able to identify some grey areas in the conduct of the inconclusive election, and we have taken cogent measures to ensure that by God’s grace, we will win the election.”

    Declare Jime winner now APC elders call on INEC 

    The Elders Council of the APC in Benue State have asked INEC to declare the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Emmanuel Jime as winner of the March 9 election.

    The elders council said it had been informed of plans by anti-APC elements   to disrupt the supplementary election in the party’s strongholds.

    Addressing reporters  in Makurdi, spokesman for the  APC Elders Council, Chief Terlumun Akputu, asked INEC  to cancel votes in  in Guma, Buruku and Logo areas of the state where, according to him, card readers were not used on March 9.

    He added: “There is nowhere in Nigeria where the APC recorded zero votes except in Guma Local Area despite having candidates and agents who he said were chased out of the polling units.”

    Parties busy with

    strategy meetings

    Ranking members of the two parties in Sokoto State have been holding meetings upon meetings to emerge victorious in the supplementary polls.

    Stalwarts of the PDP were summoned for one of such meetings at the Government House, Sokoto on Friday.

    The State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ibrahim Milgoma, said: “We are going by the electoral umpire’s arrangement to participate in the coming supplementary polls across 136 polling centres across 22 local governments.

    “We have no fears whatsoever. Only that certain things are going wrong which is making the atmosphere a bit uncertain. We are hearing that the opposition is mobilising stalwarts from other states.

    “Our concern is that there should be transparency in the conduct of the rerun. I can assure you that the process is credible and transparent, PDP will win. Otherwise, we won’t accept it. Especially where we notice foul play”, Milgoma pointed out.

    His APC counterpart, Alhaji Sadiq Isah Achida, said his party was equally set for the supplementary election.

    He said:”Those cancelled polling units are our strong holds. We want fresh sets of INEC officials for the rerun. We have the belief and conviction that those that conducted the last elections had been compromised.

    “Kebbe local government is our traditional strong hold where supplementary polls will be conducted in 35 polling units.”

    Achida, after speaking to The Nation left for Sokoto east where the party expects huge votes from   Gada, Rabah and Goronyo among others to woo the electorate.

    Court injunction

    threatens Adamawa

    supplementary election

    The situation in Adamawa State is not all that clear following a court injunction restraining INEC from conducting the supplementary election.

    An Adamawa State High Court judge, Justice Abdul-Aziz Waziri, gave  the ruling in a suit filed by the governorship candidate of the Movement for Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman.

    The judge said, “The defendant herein, INEC, is restrained … from proceeding with the supplementary election in respect of Adamawa State governorship pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

    While the APC says the court action is in order the PDP is of the view that it is a non- issue.

    The state secretary of the APC, Mr. Wafarninyi Theman, said: “From what I have seen, the complainant has a genuine case, except INEC comes out to tell us that this party was not cleared for the election. But it’s a legitimate party and it had a legitimate candidate to contest in the election. And if they didn’t find the logo of their party on the ballot paper, it means they were deprived of the chance to be voted for. So, I think INEC should have admitted in the first place that they made a mistake. However, we are waiting for the response of INEC.”

    On his part, the state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Tahir Shehu said, “We do know that by the provisions of the Electoral Act, no court of law can stop the process of election. So the purported order is invalid. INEC is not bound to comply with it… The law says no court can stop either primary, general or supplementary election. Notwithstanding, we are taking steps to get that order set aside.”

    Police ban rallies

    in Bauchi

    The Bauchi State Police command on Friday banned political rallies because of the violence that broke out in parts of the metropolis during a protest over the planned supplementary election.

    It said: “Sequel to the declaration of Bauchi State Gubernatorial Election held on 09/03/2019 as inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and subsequent scheduling of rerun election on 23/03/2019 in some parts of the State, the Bauchi State Police Command calls on the good people of the State to remain calm and avoid any act capable of causing breakdown of law and order at this critical time.

    “With regards to some reported cases of attacks on innocent members of the public by suspected Sara-Suka thugs which most times emanated from political rallies in Bauchi metropolis, the Command wishes to assure the members of the public that, it is on top of the situation and is  taking necessary measures to deal with the menace once and for all.

    “Consequently, for the interest of peace and harmony, the Command has placed a total ban on all forms of rallies and procession in the State without its approval.

    “It is done in the best interest of peace loving people of the State and to ensure that, the relative peace and security in the State is sustained,” it assures.

     

  • Don’t drag Nigeria backward, Olumakaiye begs Atiku, PDP

    The Diocesan Bishop of Lagos Anglican Communion, Rt Rev Humphrey Olumakaiye, has called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to challenge the just- concluded presidential election as good patriots but avoid dragging the nation backwards.

    This, he said, is because Nigerians have taken a bold step and “we must continue to move forward as a country”.

    Olumakaiye spoke at the centenary rally in commemoration of the Centenary celebration of the Diocese recently at TBS, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Thousands of Diocesans from 14 Archdeaconries participated in the colourful display with various floats, radiant dresses, decorations and rich cultural presentations.

    He said that Nigerians must pray and thank God for what he has done for us.

    “When God says yes, nobody can say no. God has spoken and it is for every one of us to come together as one and accept the will of God.

    “God has appointed a leader for us and it is important that we cooperate with the new government and move the nation forward by making sure that we are also patients that at the end of the tunnel, there will be light,” he stressed.

    Olumakaiye noted that although it is within the rights of Atiku and the PDP to contest the presidential results in court, he said “they must not drag us backwards as Nigerians have taken a bold step and have spoken with their vote.”

    He appealed for calm and patience because “God is not done yet with Nigeria and respite will come soon.”

    On the centenary celebration, he said: “It is designed to be celebrated throughout this year and it is targeted at fostering a more cordial relationship among members as they look forward to establishing something that the coming generations will also appreciate us for.”

    He pointed out the rally was set toward “showing to the world although we are from different tribes, languages and colour, we are one and there is no other face of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

    Olumakaiye charged the body of Christ to endeavour to always promote the virtues of peace, love unity and mutual understanding within their neighbourhood.

    He said the “true Christian faith is a life lived in love. Christ died to reconcile us back to God.

    “The ministry of reconciliation is not limited and we must continue to work on it not only in the church but in the society.”

  • INEC has done justice to Tafawa Balewa result- Says PDP

    the Bauchi State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has hailed the decision of the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to resume collation of result for Tafawa Balewa Local government. The state chairman of the party, Alhaji Hamza Koshe Akuyam, said INEC has been fair in its decision after a fact finding committee was set up to investigate the events that led to the cancellation.

    “INEC has done justice. We cried foul and they set up a committee to investigate and the committee has done justice. To us, we still have confidence in INEC. We have been waiting for justice to be done. Finally it has come. As we told you from the beginning, our party has already won this election. And God so kind, INEC has done what is right.

    “So, we are all prepared for whatever, and we know that victory is with us Insha Allah. We will now go back and see what will happen. But let’s assume that there is going to be a rerun, we are already in the lead with about 14,000 votes. So, we are prepared. We still have the upper hand in the contest even if there later happens to be a re-run,” he added further.

    The PDP, however, accused the Commissioner of Police and the Director State Security, SSS, of being partisan. “We don’t have confidence in the commissioner of police. We don’t have confidence in the Director of SSS. They have compromised in all these issues,” he added.

  • Rivers Guber: PDP urges INEC to declare Wike winner

    Following the results of the fact finding committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the manifest disruption of the collation of the results of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly general elections, the state PDP has called on INEC to announce its candidate as winner of the election.

    This is contained in the statement by the Rivers State PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, and made available to the Nation on Saturday.

    The Rivers State PDP said it has accepted the pronouncements INEC made, after receiving the report of the fact finding committee, as substantial representation of the true state of the electoral process before the suspension.

    According to the statement, “After a thorough and holistic review of the report and findings of its Committee, INEC has in a release on the night of Friday 15th March 2019 made three fundamental verdictson the elections in Rivers State, as follows:

    “It has the complete collated results of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in 17 local Government Areas of the State in safe custody;

    “21 out of 32 State constituency results of the State had already been declared and returned as elected prior to when it suspended the electoral process in the State; and it would on 20th March 2019 issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election in the State.”

    The Rivers State PDP, however, wished to draw the INEC’s attention to the fact that in addition to the 17 Local Government Areas with fully collated results, the elections also successfully held and results declared at the unit and ward levels in five of the six other Local Government Areas where full collation of results is still pending.

    The Rivers PDP therefore urged the INEC to follow its guidelines to fill the missing gap, if any, in the collation process for the remaining five Local Government Areas by generating the full results from the unit results already in its custody and declare our candidates the clear and unassailable winners of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.

    “We commend the INEC for standing by the truth and for its courage and principled determination to ensure that the votes of the people of Rivers State as freely and overwhelmingly expressed on the 9th of March 2019 in favour of the PDP effectively count.

    “We also commend the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Yusuf Tukur Buratai for inaugurating the Major-General TA Gagariga’s led Committee to probe the allegations of misconduct, including the assassination attempt on our Governor, His Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike by soldiers during the 2019 general elections,” the statement added.

    The party also called on the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed Adamu to institute a similar panel to probe the brazen involvement of the Rivers State Commander of F-SARS, Mr. Akin Fakorode and his gang of police operatives in the organized invasion of polling units, collation centers, abduction of electoral officers and the shooting and killing of innocent persons during the general elections at Khana, Gokana, Ikwerre, Eleme, Tai, Oyigbo and Ogu/Bolo Local Governments of the State.

  • INEC resumes collation of Bauchi guber election results

    The Independent National Electoral Commission has decided to resume from Tuesday, the collation of the governorship election result in Bauchi State and may declare the winner of the poll, hitherto ruled as inconclusive.

    The commission announced the decision in a press statement on Friday night after resolving some issues around the result of Tafawa Balewa local government and some polling units in Ningi local government.

    INEC did not state whether by the decision, the scheduled supplementary election on 23 March has been cancelled.

    According to INEC, the number of cancelled votes in four polling units in Ningi Local Government was 2,533 and not 25,330 as recorded.

    On Tafawa Balewa Local Government election result, where collation was disrupted by armed gangs, affecting 7 out of 11 registration areas for governorship and 6 out of 11 for state assembly elections, INEC said a committee set up, has found that the results in polling units and registration areas are “available and in safe custody”.

    INEC thus decided to resume the resumption and conclusion of the collation of results of the council area for both the governorship and state assembly elections

    A new collation and returning officer for Tafawa Balewa has been appointed “to continue and conclude the collation process in place of the original collation officer, who withdrew from the exercise citing threats to her life and those of her family members”. The threatened collation officer was Dominion Anosike.

    The governorship election in Bauchi state is a straight fight between incumbent Mohammed Abubakar of the All Progressives Congress and former minister, Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    Bala was said to have won the Tafawa Balewa Local government election, putting him in an overall lead of his APC counterpart, but the INEC returning officer, Professor Mohammed Kyari, declared the election inconclusive.

    In declaring the election inconclusive, Kyari, gave the scores of incumbent governor as 465,453 votes and Bala Mohammed of PDP as 469,512 votes.

    “The margin between the winner and opponent is less than the total number of votes cancelled in some polling units.By law, since the margin of winner is less than the total number of votes cancelled and registered voters in the areas where the votes have been cancelled, this elections is hereby declared inconclusive,” he said.

    He said his decision was in line with section 26 part 53 of the Electoral Act.

    NAN