- APC Candidate, Fuad Laguda Replaces Gbajabiamila In House Of Rep
- CAN Clears Rumour Of Pressuring SDP Candidate To Step Down In Taraba
- INEC Postpones Elections In 18 Polling Units After Staff Held Hostage in Plateau
- Elections Sspended In Enugu, Kano, Akwa Ibom Constituencies
By Lawrence Enyoghasu
It was an endless drama in different parts of Nigeria as bye and rerun election held. The states involved were slightly volatile but there were much intrigues involved.
The election which stated very early in the morning panned out well for some and not so good for others but one thing is for sure there will be another marathon of legal issues that would pop afterwards.
In Lagos, where there was battle for the seat of Femi Gbajabiamila, who resigned to take up a role in the presidency as the Chief of Staff, the bye-election held in the Surulere Federal Constituency of Lagos, Fuad Laguda, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), emerged as the obvious winner
READ ALSO: INEC Suspends Elections In Enugu, Kano, Akwa Ibom Constituencies
The results, which have been posted on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) IRev portal, demonstrate that Laguda won handily in each of the six wards that comprise the Surulere Federal Constituency.
According to THE MATRIX, as of 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, all results from the 258 polling places had been published, showing that the APC candidate had garnered almost 98% of all votes cast in the election.
Laguda faced no significant challenge from his core opponents, Adeola Adebanjo of the Labour Party and Jerry Afemighie of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In Taraba, the Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Taraba state stated that they did not put any pressure on Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Innocent Jabayang to resign in favor of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Sadik Tafida.
In a conversation with media, CAN chairman Magaji Jirapye revealed that Jabayang voluntarily resigned after being contacted by State Governor Dr. Agbu Kefas just hours before the election, and that CAN was only notified following his decision.
“CAN was informed about the decision because of our earlier resolve to support the aspiration of the SDP candidate. When he willingly decided to withdraw to support the PDP candidate, the governor reached out to us because of our earlier resolve and we held a meeting with the SDP candidate and he confirmed his decision to us. CAN did not force him to step down” Jipreye said.
In Plateau, there was an hostage situation as the preparation for rerun polls for the federal seat of Bassa/Jos North and the senatorial district of Plateau North, the Independent National Electoral Commission has declared that new elections would be held in eighteen polling places.
Dr. Oliver Agundu, the State’s resident electoral commissioner, revealed this to reporters in Jos.
He claimed that during the rerun on Saturday, there were concerns about ballot paper shortages at several voting places, which prompted the new election.
The REC, who stated that an investigation had been launched by the commission to unravel the cause of the ballot papers shortage in the affected polling units said, “In respect of the reports that were coming in from some poling units that there were shortages of ballot papers in respect of the Federal House of Representatives seat, we did a holistic appraisal of the situation and we have received a comprehensive report on all the poling units and they summed up to 18 of them in total.
READ ALSO: Plateau Re-Run: INEC Distributes Election Materials, As PDP Logo Is Missing
“15 are in Tudun-Wada/Kabong Ward, and three are in Naraguta B ward all in Jos North LGA. So, we have decided that we cannot even take it for granted that this is a negligible number compared to over 900 polling units where the elections took place.”
In Enugu, Kano, and Akwa Ibom have been halted, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), because of disturbances, anomalies, and the kidnapping of election personnel.
The impacted regions include the state constituencies of Enugu South 1 (Enugu State), Ikono/Ini Federal (Akwa Ibom State), and Kunchi/Tsanyawa State (Kano State).
This was revealed by the electoral authority on Saturday in a statement that was signed by Sam Olumekun, the chairman of the information and voter education committee and national commissioner.
The decision came after INEC earlier said it was monitoring cases of thuggery and hijacking of electoral materials in these states.
According to INEC, elections were suspended in all eight Polling Units where the original results sheets were not available for inspection by voters before the commencement of polls in Enugu South 1 Constituency.
Similarly in Akwa Ibom State, INEC noted that elections were suspended in two Polling Units (Village Hall, EdemUrua 003 in Ini LGA and Village Hall Mbiabong Ikot Udo 003 in Ikono LGA) where all election materials were carted away by hoodlums.
For Kunchi/Tsanyawa State Constituency in Kano State, INEC said elections were suspended in all ten Polling Units in Kunchi LGA due to invasion, vandalization, and disruption by thugs.
The electoral umpire said its decision aligns with the provisions of Section 24(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
It stated that further necessary measures for the affected constituencies will be announced after the Commission’s meeting on Monday.
INEC invited the security agencies to investigate the incidents, while the Commission commits to thoroughly interrogating any breaches involving its officials.
THE MATRIX reported that INEC is conducting bye and re-run elections in 80 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across 26 states of the federation.
The elections are being conducted to fill vacancies in not less than three senatorial districts, 17 federal and 28 state constituencies spread across 80 local government areas, 575 registration areas/wards and 8,934 polling units involving 4,904,627 registered voters, out of which 4,613,291 PVCs have been collected.
Meanwhile, Ondo saw a brazen act of electoral violence, suspected political thugs disrupted the voting process during the by-election for the Akoko North-East and Akoko North-West Federal Constituency at Unit 5, Ward 13 in Oyinmo, Ikare-Akoko, on Saturday.
According to eyewitnesses, the attackers stormed the polling unit, causing panic among the electorate, and forcibly took away the ballot box.
The incident, which occurred just before noon, saw many voters fleeing for safety.
Despite the chaos, the attackers were unable to take the result sheet, BVAS machine, and other electoral materials.
Out of 407 registered voters at the unit, only 63 had cast their votes before the disruption.
