Party Supporters Locked us Out over Results – INEC officials

Supporters of a political party allegedly detained officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, including a local government official at LGA Rijau, Niger State.

The party’s supporters threatened to set them on fire if election officials failed to annul the results of 3 polling units in the Tonga-Majajia registration area due to alleged irregularities.

Isaac Abubakar, the deputy secretary of the Federal University of Technology, Mina, in charge of the governorship election in Rijau local government, said this at the INEC headquarters in Mina, adding that he was not ready with the results.

Out of the 25 LGAs of the state, the results of the gubernatorial elections of 24 LGAs have been declared while the results of Rajau LGA are awaited.

According to Within Nigeria, Abubakar explained that he and others were “locked up by party supporters in the local government’s collation center,” adding that the supporters alleged irregularities at the affected polling stations and insisted that the results be annulled and a new election held.

He said it took military intervention to save their lives, while the Electoral Officer (EO) was asked to write a letter and declared the local government governorship and state assembly elections inconclusive.

Abubakar said that when they were finally released, they could not announce the results at the local government collation center and party representatives did not sign the results.

Speaking on the issue, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof Clement Alawa, said that there are no challenges in 10 enrollment areas out of 11 enrollment areas in local governments.

Challenges in the 3 polling units in the ward did not invalidate the process.

He then abandoned the confrontation while asking the cooperation officer to separate the affected registration area before giving a presentation.

Representatives of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state assembly, Sani Idris Kutigi, disagreed with the decision of the state assembly officer, saying that a good democratic system should be maintained.

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