Desmond Mgboh, Kano
All the agents of the political parties that participated in the Kano governorship election agreed to the cancellation of the poll’s results in Gawa Ward of the state on March 9, 2019.
Coalition agent of the party, Alhaji Umar Tanko Yakasai, disclosed this on Saturday while adopting his deposition at the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, presided by Justice Halima Shamaki,
He told the tribunal that the agents all consented in writing that the election be cancelled in all the polling areas where there were disruptions of the process.
Giving an account of what transpired on that day, he said that the poll in Gama Ward was characterised by over voting while adding that during the collation of the results at the local government level, pandemonium broke out resulting in the burning of the original INEC result sheets by undisclosed persons,
He admitted that he locked up himself inside a nearby room where he hid with the remaining electoral materials in his custody.
Speaking during cross-examination by the counsel to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Barrister Offiong Offiong (SAN), he admitted that he failed to hand over the electoral materials to INEC officials and security operatives present, but personally took the materials to the police headquarters.
Earlier in his testimony, the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Engineer Rabiu, Suleiman Bichi, stated that the party communicated several correspondences to INEC, seeking the cancellation of the elections in the polling units where there were cases of electoral violence and over-voting.
Bichi stated that INEC has the discretionary powers to cancel the results in Gama Ward as well as the powers to order the conduct of fresh elections in the affected polling units.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party and their governorship candidate, Engineer Abba Kabiru Yusuf, have presented a total of 31 witnesses within nine out of the 14 days allotted to them as 1st and 2nd petitioners. The matter was adjourned to August 5, 2019.