PAUL ORUDE, BAUCHI
A group, Bauchi Youth Awareness Ambassadors, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of causing political confusion in the state due to the way it handled governorship election.
Chairman of the group Comrade Khalid Sambo made the accusation on Friday in Bauchi while addressing journalists on the political situation in the state.
It would be recalled that INEC declared the governorship election in the state inconclusive following cancellation of results in Tafawa Balewa local government and some polling units in 15 other local government areas of the state.
But the INEC national headquarters sent a high-powered committee to investigate the issues that led to the cancellation of the results and recommended that collation of Tafawa Balewa results would continue; But the decision was stopped by a Federal High Court in Abuja following a petition filed by the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar who is a candidate of the APC.
However, as the electoral body awaits the court’s final verdict on the matter, it fixed Saturday, March 23 for the conduct of the supplementary election in 36 polling units in 15 other local governments where results were cancelled.
Sambo alleged that the State Returning Officer erred in the first place in cancelling the results of Tafawa Balewa local government, saying since the election was peaceful at polling units, there was no reason to cancel them due to disruption of collation at local government collation centre and conducting rerun election.
“The jurisprudence of the electoral law in Nigeria and the world over is that elections start and end at polling units. Any subsequent process in the course of the election is a mere compilation of initial results obtained through voting at polling units.
“Given this principle and putting into context the controversy over Bauchi governorship election in Tafawa Balewa local government area, it would be right to say that there is no reasonable ground warranting any cancellation of elections duly conducted at all polling units across the local government in question,” he asserted.