Bauchi south senatorial by-election: INEC clears Yuguda, 8 others

AHEAD of the Bauchi south senatorial by-election scheduled for Saturday, 11th of this month, (August 2018), Bauchi State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has cleared immediate past Governor of Bauchi state, Isa Yuguda and 8 other candidates for the by-election.

The Electoral Commission disclosed that it has screened and cleared candidates of nine political parties that submitted forms to contest the Bauchi South Senatorial by-election slated for August 11.

Head of Voters Education and Publicity of the state office of INEC, Yahaya Mohammed, made this known while answering questions on the preparation for the conduct of the by-election.

Yahaya Mohammed listed those cleared to contest as candidates in the by-election to include, Haruna Ayuba of the ADC; Lawal Yahaya Gumau of the ruling APC; Muhammad Aminu Tukur of the APP; Isa Yuguda of the GPN; Usman Hassan of the KP; Husseini Umar of NNPP; Usman Chaledi of the PDC; Ladan Salihu of the PDP and Maryam Garba Bargel of the SDP.

He said that the names of the candidates were submitted to the Commission by their various political parties after the conduct of the primaries.

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While speaking on the preparations for the by-election, Yahaya Mohammed said that the Commission has recruited a total of 3,500 ad hoc staff who will work in the 1,944 polling in of seven Local Government Areas that constitute the Bauchi south senatorial district.

He said that the ad-hoc staff include Collation Officers, Supervisory and Presiding Officers, Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers 1, 2 and 3 adding that all the ad hoc staff will be drawn from among Civil Servants of Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) embers as well as Students of Tertiary Institutions in the State and disclosed that the training of the ad-hoc staff has commenced immediately.

It would be recalled that the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Bauchi State, Ibrahim Abdullahi had, at a meeting with stakeholders which included representatives of various political parties under the aegis of Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), security agencies and the media, announced that the Commission received a letter from the Senate on July, 13th declaring the Bauchi South Senatorial seat vacant following the death of late Senator Ali Wakili on March 17th.

Ibrahim Abdullahi also explained that, based on the Senate’s action and in line with Section 76 (2) and 25 (2) of the electoral act, INEC is mandated to conduct a by-election to fill the vacuum within 30 days and after due consultations with the stakeholders, August 11th, was announced as the date for the by-election.

According to the REC, elections will be held in 445 Voting Points, 1, 499 Polling Units in 75 wards of the 7 Local Government Areas of Bauchi, Toro, Dass, Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro, Alkaleri and Kirfi, that make up the Senatorial District.