A political pressure group in Bauchi state known as Bauchi Youth Awareness Ambassadors has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of causing political confusion in the state due to the way it handled governorship election.
Chairman of the group comrade Khalid Sambo made the accusation on Saturday while addressing Journalists on the political situation in the state after the supplementary election.
INEC had declared the governorship election in the state inconclusive following cancellation of results in Tafawa Balewa local government and some polling units in 15 other local government areas of the state.
But the INEC national headquarters sent a high powered committee to investigate issues that led to the cancellation of the results and recommended that collation of Tafawa Balewa results would continue, the decision that was stopped by a federal high court in Abuja following a petition filed by the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar who is a candidate of the APC.
However, as the electoral body awaits final court’s verdict on the matter on Monday 25th March, the group alleged that the State Returning Officer erred in the first place in cancelling the results of Tafawa Balewa local government saying since the election was peaceful at polling units, there was no reason to cancel it due to disruption of collation at local government collation center and conducting rerun election.
” The jurisprudence of the electoral law in Nigeria and the world over is that elections start and end at polling units. Any subsequent process in the course of the election is a mere compilation of initial results obtained through voting at polling units”.
” Given this principle and putting into context the controversy over Bauchi Governorship election in Tafawa Balewa local government area, it would be right to say that there is no reasonable ground warranting cancellation of elections duly conducted at all polling units across the local government in question”. He asserted.
