Speaker Yakubu Dogara has expressed dissatisfaction over the Bauchi gubernatorial election, which was declared inconclusive on Sunday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sen. Bala Mohammed was leading his closest rival, Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Dogara stated INEC chairman Prof. Mahood Yakubu, an indigene of Bauchi, has a question to answer from the people who he claimed had been deprived of their mandate.
“I want to say that the Chairman of INEC, who is from Bauchi State, just like all of us has a question to answer.
‘’ They say charity begins at home. Will he sit down in Abuja and watch a presiding REC deprive PDP of their mandate.
‘’Will he sit down and sleep in peace when he sees that that the position of his own people has been held by agent of the commission over which he superintends?
“That is the question that Prof.Mahmud Yakubu my name sake will have to answer and the people of Bauchi are watching.
‘’We want to see whether he will cast his vote with the people of Bauchi State or those who are seeking to oppress the people of Bauchi State.”
It would be recalled the collation officer of Tafawa Balewa local government area, Mrs. Dominic Anosike, had earlier said she was forced under duress to announce the result at the collation centre by some political thugs, who she alleged unleashed violence at the centre in Tafawa Balewa.
The Speaker, while addressing a press conference in Bauchi on Monday together with his PDP counterpart, Sen. Mohammad Bala and other PDP chieftains over the cancelled result of Tafawa Balewa, argued it was thugs belonging to the APC that invaded the collation centre.
He also urged Gov Abubukar to surrender with honour, saying it will be an unprecedented shame for him who had twice called him a light weight politician to now seek for votes in his constituency in a supplementary election.
“You have heard him say about twice that I as a speaker, I am a lightweight politician because I represent an area that is my constituency, that the highest votes that come from that area is 70000 and in the last 2015 election.
‘’He (Gov Abubukar) won his election with over 300, 000 votes that he doesn’t require a vote from my constituency to be governor.
“Now I want the media to ask him, will it not amount to any act of unprecedented shamelessness for him to now go to Tafawa Balewa, my constituency, with only 70,000 votes that he doesn’t require to go and campaign for their votes or illegally source for votes from them to make up and be the governor.
“If there is any honour on his part, having declared he doesn’t need one single vote from there, I think honour demands that he should surrender at this point that he’s lost the election.”
Mohammed boasted that his party had already won “it is left for the governor to start preparing his handover notes.
“Even the Presidency has interfered into our election, am not afraid to say it because reliable sources told us the INEC Chairman was called not to act on the election.”
Meanwhile, the APC while reacting to the allegations during a separate press conference, hailed INEC for declaring the result inconclusive saying that the decision of the commission was legal.
Chairman of the party Ahmed Uba Nana said: “It is what is supposed to be. If you look at it, a whole local government election cancelled.
“The margin was nothing to write home about if you compare it with the registered voters, it is clear.”
The APC chairman accused the PDP of crying foul unnecessarily saying, “If you have somebody who is used to committing an offence, he will run to the police station first to absolve himself.
“The collaboration officer had Tafawa Balewa alleged that she was put under security threat and that she wrote the result under duress.
“I want to call on the security agencies to probe it and whosoever is found guilty should face the wrath of the law.”