The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Sunday, suspended the Electoral Officer for Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Fred Ogboji, over the alleged missing of some ballot papers deployed in the council area for the rerun elections in the Plateau North Senatorial District and that of Jos North/Bassa Federal constituency seats.
The PUNCH had reported that the rerun election conducted by INEC for Plateau North Senatorial District and Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency were marred mainly by voter apathy and ballot papers shortage.
In some of the polling units, some INEC officials were held hostage by angry voters who wanted to cast their ballots but could not due to a shortage of ballot papers.
The development forced the electoral body to postpone the rerun election in 13 polling units of Tudun Wada/Kabong Ward and three other polling units in Naraguta B Ward, all in Jos North LGA, till Sunday.
INEC, on a Sunday, in a letter by the Head of Department, Electoral Operations, Isa Abah Idakwo, on behalf of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, directed the Electoral Officer, Ogboji, to hand over his responsibilities to the next senior officers to enable the commission to complete the remaining part of the election.
The letter dated February 4, 2024, read in part: “You are directed to step aside from office to enable the commission to carry out proper investigation and circumstances that led to the missing of Federal House of Representatives ballot papers in 16 polling units in your local government.
“You are further directed to hand over to Barrister Elekwa Onyemauche, the Local Government Supervisor and the two RA Supervisors of Tudun Wada/ Kabong and Naraguta B (E O Shendam and E O Kanke Local Government Areas respectively) to coordinate and complete the remaining process. Thank you.”
Earlier, the Inter-Party Advisory Council urged INEC to fish out those behind the sudden disappearance of ballot papers meant for certain areas during the Saturday rerun election in Plateau State and prosecute them accordingly.
IPAC said unless such actions were taken, perpetrators of electoral fraud would continue to manipulate the will of the people, thereby giving the electoral umpire a bad image.
One killed in Kaduna
There was confusion in Rigachikun in the Igabi Local Government of Kaduna State on Sunday, following the killing of a 40-year-old man during Saturday’s by-election in the area by suspected political thugs.
According to an eyewitness, the victim, Mansur Shafiu, was killed by suspected political thugs in his efforts to prevent ballot box snatching.
“In trying to prevent them, one of the thugs brought out a knife and stabbed him,” the eyewitness said.
The spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Mansir Hassan, who confirmed the incident, said suspected political thugs who snatched election materials at the Tsohon Garin Rigachikun polling unit, shot the victim.
He said the victim was shot in the leg by suspected political thugs and that after being rushed to the hospital, he died.
Mansur was said to be a graduate of Sociology from the Kaduna State University.
The incident sparked a protest as youths from Rigachikun barricaded the Zaria-Rigachikun highway which led to a gridlock, leaving motorists stranded. But normalcy was restored after the military intervened.
Meanwhile, results of the Saturday reruns and by-elections began trickling in on Sunday.
In Kaduna State, Hussaini Jallo of the Peoples Democratic Party was declared winner of Igaba Federal Constituency by-election.
In Ondo State, Ife Ehindero of the All Progressives Congress was declared winner of the Akoko North-East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency of Ondo State.
In Anambra State, Peter Uzokwe of the Young Progressives Party won the rerun election for Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency.
Another YPP candidate, Chinwe Nnabuife, was declared the winner of the Orumba North and South Federal constituency.
In Enugu, INEC declared PDP’s Atigwe Simon the winner of the re-run election for the Udenu/Igbo-Eze North Federal Constituency of the state.
Meanwhile, for the senatorial by-election, APC’s Prof. Anthony Ani was announced as the winner of Ebonyi South Senatorial by-election,
In Yobe State, INEC declared Musa Mustapha as the winner of the Yobe East Senatorial by-election.
In Sokoto State, the PDP secured victory in two of the three legislative seats, while the APC won one.
Announcing the results on Sunday morning, the returning officer for Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency, Prof. Abdullahi Bagudo, declared Yusuf Yabo the winner having scored a total of 27,041 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Dan Bukari, who scored a total of 26,213 votes.
Also, in Bodinga North State Constituency, the returning officer, Prof. Farouk Tambuwal, announced Magaji Abubakar of the PDP as the winner of the election with a total of 6,488 votes. He defeated his closest opponent and the candidate of the APC, Yusuf Danchadi, who garnered 5,893 votes.
Meanwhile, the candidate of the APC, Dahiru Ahmed, was declared as the winner of the Tambuwal West state constituency.
The returning officer, Prof. Bayero Kasim, declared Ahmed as the winner of the election with a total number of 19,315 votes, defeating his closest opponent and candidate of the PDP, Hantsi Romo, who polled 19,021 votes.
In Katsina State, the APC candidate for the Faskari/Kankara Constituency of the state, Shehu Tafoki, was declared the winner of the election.
Tafoki won the rerun which took place in 20 polling units in the Kankara and Faskari Local Government Areas.
According to the INEC, Tafoki won with a total of 49,807 votes.
Tafoki, a former Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, defeated his closest rival, Jamilu Muhammed of the PDP, who scored 49,067 votes.
In Kano State, the New Nigeria People’s Party’s candidates in the Saturday by-election won the two state Assembly seats in the contest.
The returning officer of the election at Kura/Garun Mallam, Prof. Shehu Galadanchi, announced that Alhassan Ishaq of the NNPP polled 37,262 to beat Musa Daurawar of the APC, who scored 30,803 votes.
The Rimin Gado/Tofa returning officer, Prof. Ibrahim Suraj, also announced that Bello Butu-Butu of the NNPP polled 31,135 votes to beat his opponent of the APC who received 25,577 votes.
additional reports: Dele Ogunyemi, Ikenna Obianeri, Daniels Igoni, Animasahun Salman, John Charles, Olaide Oyelude, Hindi Livinus, Patrick Odey, Raphael Ede, Edward Nnachi, Uthman Abubakar and Justin Tyopuusu
In Kaduna State, a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly and candidate of the APC, Yusuf Liman, was declared the winner of Saturday’s by-election for the Makera State Constituency.
INEC declared that Liman polled 18,068 votes to defeat his opponent and candidate of the PDP, Solomon Katuka, who scored 17,404 to come second, while Usman Yakuti of the Labour Party got 3,709 votes.
The electoral umpire also declared Nura Abubakar of the PDP as the winner of the election at the Kudan State Constituency with a total of 24,178 votes to defeat the candidate of the APC, Abbas Faisal, who scored 22,438 votes, while the Labour Party candidate, Suleiman Umar came third with 1,491 votes.
Similarly, Hussein Jallo of the PDP won the Igabi Federal Constituency by-election scoring 47,313 votes to defeat Zyyad Ibrahim of the APC who polled 43,915 votes.
In the Chikun State Constituency, INEC declared the APC’s candidate, David Jesse, the winner with 18,566 votes, defeating PDP’s Maria Dogo who polled 10,903 votes while the LP candidate, Solomon Adamu, scored 3,285 votes to finish third.
In Delta State, the House of Assembly candidate of the APC for the Burutu State Constituency 1, Alapala Ebitonmo, was declared winner of the rerun election after having defeated the PDP candidate, Asupa Forteta.
INEC declared Alapala the winner of the poll with 7,728 votes, defeating Forteta who scored 6,616 votes.
In Bayelsa State, INEC declared APGA candidate, Mr Waikumo Amakoromo, as the winner of the Yenagoa Constituency 2 run-off election conducted on Saturday in seven polling units of the constituency.
The INEC returning officer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, Prof. Chris Onyema, announced that Amakoromo polled a total of 5,959 votes to defeat his major opponent, Mrs Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai of the PDP, who scored a total of 5,263 votes.
In Benue, INEC declared the candidate of the APC, Terwase Uche, the winner of Saturday’s by-election in the state.
The returning officer, Prof. Julius Ikyar, declared that Uche polled 5,289 to defeat the candidate of the PDP, Jimmy Geoffrey, who scored 4,134.
In Adamawa State, INEC declared the PDP candidate, Musa Mahmud, the winner of Saturday’s by-election for the Mayo-Belwa state constituency.
INEC’s returning officer for the by-election, Prof. Mohammed Ardo of the Modibbo Adama University, Yola, who declared the election results at the collation centre in the Mayo-Belwa local government area, on Saturday, returned, Mahmud as the duly elected legislator for the state constituency seat after he polled 1,306 votes to defeat Ibrahim Italiya, who polled 874 votes during the by-election.
In Akwa Ibom State, the candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, has been declared the winner of the Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency re-run.
Ukpong-Udo is returning to the House of Representatives for a second term, having been first elected to the House on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019.
In the results announced Saturday night by Nabie Jude, Collation Officer for the Reps rerun, the YPP candidate polled a total of 24,050 votes to beat his closest challenger and candidate of the PDP, Dr Glory Edet, who got 17,232 votes.
Similarly, Godwin Ayi, Collation Officer, announced Moses Easien, also a candidate of the YPP, as the winner of the Ibiono Ibom State constituency rerun poll also held Saturday.
Meanwhile, INEC on Sunday declared the Jalingo, Yorro and Zing House of Representatives by-election inconclusive.
The Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Daniel Ayuba, disclosed this after the collation of results from the three local government councils that make up the constituency in Jalingo.
Ayuba said that while the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Tafida Sadiq scored a total of 17,214 votes, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Mr Innocent Jabayang, who came in as the first runner-up, scored 15,537, putting the difference between the duo at 1,677.
“In the current Electoral Act, there is a principle which stipulates that, if the margin of victory is less than the total number of collected PVCs in the areas where an election is cancelled, the result cannot be declared and anyone declared returned.
“From the computation that we have done and the results available to us, the margin of victory is less than the total number of collected PVCs in the areas where the election was not held, or cancelled which is 14,759.
“Consequently, the election is inconclusive and a rerun would be held in the respective areas between the candidate with the highest votes and the first runner-up.”
