Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called off the earlier announced rerun election in Bauchi State for the gubernatorial seat just as it approved the resumption, conclusion and announcement of the result of the Tafawa Balewa State Constituency.
The Commission also directed that the error in the total number of cancelled votes in four polling units in Ningi Local Government Area should be corrected from 25,330 to 2,533 and ordered that the Collation process for Tafawa Balewa Local Government should resume on Tuesday, 19th March 2019.
The decision followed an investigation carried out by INEC arising from the cancellation of the gubernatorial election results from Tafawa-Balewa LGA which led to the declaration of the election as inconclusive by the State Returning Officer, Professor Kyari Mohammed during the collation of the gubernatorial election results in the early hours of Monday.
According to a state from INEC headquarters in Abuja “On the 12 day of March 2019 the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) considered a report submitted by the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Bauchi State on the disruption of the Collation process at the Tafawa Balewa Collation Centre which led to the cancellation of results for the entire Local Government”.
The statement further contained that, “the Commission found that there are issues that need further investigation and set up a Committee for that purpose. The Governorship and State Assembly Elections were held on the 9th March 2019 in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area and the votes scored by candidates were announced at the Polling Units and collated at the 11 Registration Areas of the Local Government”.
“Halfway into the Local Government collation, armed gangs attacked the collation centre and destroyed the Local Government Result Sheet (EC8C) and some collated results from the Registration Areas. The results of 7 out of 11 Registration Areas for Governorship and 6 out of 11 for State Assembly elections were affected. INEC guidelines provide that where violent disruption affects collation in this manner, results should be regenerated from duplicate copies on a replacement result sheet”, INEC further stated.
It explained that: “The Collation Officer, under pressure from Party Agents who could not wait for the arrival of a replacement result sheet, decided to collate the result on an available RA result sheet instead of the replacement LGA result sheet. When the result was presented at the State Governorship Collation Centre, the Returning Officer rejected the regenerated result because it was on a wrong result sheet”.
“The Investigation Committee established that the result in Polling Units and Registration Areas are available and in safe custody. The Investigation Committee also established that the number of cancelled votes for the 4 Polling Units in Ningi Local Government Area which was recorded as 25,330 in form EC40G (1) was incorrect. The actual figure is 2,533. Consequently, the Commission has taken the following decisions”, the Commission added:
It then approved the resumption and conclusion of the collation of results of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area in relation to the Governorship election as the duplicate and original Registration Area results are available.
INEC also approved the appointment of a new Collation/Returning Officer for Tafawa Balewa Local Government to continue and conclude the collation process in place of the original Collation Officer who withdrew from the exercise citing threats to her life and those of her family members.
The Commission then appealed to all stakeholders for continuous support and understanding.