Ahead of the supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday, an atmosphere of anxiety is pervading in some of the affected states, Daily Trust reports. While some political groups have stepped up protests in some of the states, others are calling for security deployment to avert any crisis.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will on April 15, conduct supplementary elections in 2,660 polling units across 185 LGAs of 24 states.
The commission had conducted the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, and the governorship and state houses of assembly polls on March 18.
The supplementary elections include the governorship, state houses of assembly, senatorial and House of Representatives elections in constituencies where they were previously suspended due to some reasons, including violence and situations where the margin between the winner and the first runner-up was less than the votes cancelled.
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The supplementary governorship elections would be held in 20 LGAs of each of Adamawa and Kebbi states. Both states have 21 LGAs each. In Adamawa, the elections would be held in a total of 69 polling units (PUs) and 142 PUs in Kebbi State, with 36,935 and 94,209 eligible voters, respectively.
The senatorial elections would be held in the northwestern states of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara. In Sokoto, supplementary elections are to be held for all three senatorial seats—Sokoto North, Sokoto East and Sokoto South—where elections were earlier declared inconclusive. Elections would be held in 389 polling units across all 23 LGAs of the state. Altogether, there are 227,743 eligible voters expected to participate in the election.
In Kebbi and Zamfara, elections are to be held in one senatorial district each – Kebbi North and Zamfara Central. While the election will be held in 23 PUs in the Kebbi North senatorial elections. Voters in 83 PUs would be voting in the Zamfara Central senatorial poll. They have 13,243 and 47,277 eligible voters, respectively.
Similarly, supplementary elections for the House of Representatives would be held for 31 constituencies in 15 states. They are Akwa Ibom 2, Anambra 1, Bayelsa 1, Edo 1, Imo 1, Kano 2, Kebbi 2, Kogi 1, Oyo 2, Rivers 2, Sokoto 11, Taraba 1, Zamfara 2, Jigawa 1 and Ebonyi 1.
Apprehension in Adamawa, Kebbi
In Adamawa, an air of uncertainty hangs in the political atmosphere as political groups continue to engage in protests a few days before the supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday, making it a state to watch.
This is coming as the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Yunus Ari, raised an alarm over alleged threat to his life in an interview he granted journalists in Bauchi.
Daily Trust observed that party supporters have been expressing concern over the possible outcome of the election, with PDP members alleging a plot to oust their candidate, Umaru Fintiri while some APC loyalists remain adamant that the election was rigged against their candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani) and that she would eventually emerge victorious.
“It is clear that Fintiri is going into the supplementary election with more than 31,000 votes advantage when the total possible votes in the affected polling units is around 37,000, so he needs 6,000 votes to win. “But our fear is manipulation and the Abuja factor. Honestly, we are worried and will not rest until he is declared winner. So we are appealing for a free and fair election,” a PDP supporter said. An APC supporter, James Hidi, said he was upbeat that his candidate would recover her mandate and be sworn in as governor after the election.
Kebbi
Kebbi is also one of the states to watch in the supplementary election by INEC given the likely crisis that is building around the elections from two major political parties, the APC and the PDP, each aiming to win the governorship, state assembly and senatorial elections in the state. Before the March 18 governorship election, both parties had been trading accusations and counter-accusations over alleged plans to rig the elections.
When the governorship, 20 constituencies and Kebbi North senatorial elections were declared inconclusive by INEC, the suspicion between the parties heightened and is assuming a dangerous dimension.
The crisis over the supplementary elections in the state reached a frightening dimension two weeks ago when the major opposition party in the state, the PDP, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy more security personnel to Kebbi State for the supplementary election.
While briefing journalists, the director general for PDP’s governorship campaign, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu, said it became necessary in the face of the intimidation and persecution members and supporters of PDP were going through in the hands of the ruling APC administration in the state.
The APC public relations officer, Alhaji Isa Assalafi, denied the allegation of persecution, saying: “There was nothing like that. In fact, we are hearing this for the first time. I think their allegations are borne out of their failure at the polls.”
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ahmed Bello had restated INEC’s preparedness for the supplementary election in Kebbi State. He said, “We are already preparing logistics for the concluding part of the governorship and other elections scheduled for 15 of April, this year in the state.
Sokoto
In Sokoto, Daily Trust reliably gathered that Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has petitioned INEC over the supplementary polls, alleging that election in some of the polling units earmarked were concluded and results validly declared and collated in forms EC8B(1). The petition, which was signed by the senior counsel, S. I. Ameh SAN, urged INEC to delist such polling units from those where the supplementary election would be conducted.
Some observers say the parliamentary rerun election in the state may witness voter apathy and massive vote buying.
Daily Trust learnt that the National Assembly election in the state was tough because of the participation of key political actors from the major political parties as contestants. They included Governor Aminu Tambuwal and his deputy, Manir Dan’iya, as well as the leader of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, among others.
Tambuwal contested against the incumbent senator representing Sokoto South, Ibrahim Danbaba Dambuwa.
Before the election was declared inconclusive, the two-term governor was leading Danbaba with 7,859 having scored 87,850 votes against the 79,991 votes secured by Danbaba. According to INEC, supplementary elections would take place in 133 polling units, affecting 77,213 registered voters in the zone.
However, Senator Wamakko was contesting against the deputy governor, Dan’iya for Sokoto North Senatorial district.
In the results of the election declared by INEC before being adjudged inconclusive, Wamakko scored 114,866 votes while Dan’iya got 103,134 with a margin of 11,732 in favour of the former.
The rerun election would be conducted in 166 polling units affecting 110,214 registered voters. For Sokoto East, the contest is between Shu’aibu Gwanda Gobir of PDP and Ibrahim Lamido of APC. Gwanda was leading Lamido with 2,050 votes in the first election having secured 99,198 votes against 97,147 votes scored by Lamido.
The supplementary election for the zone will take place in 90 polling units with 49,978 registered voters. Speaking on the election, a public affairs commentator, Nura Attajiri, opined that the election could witness voter apathy and massive vote buying.
“This is because many supporters of the ruling PDP would not come out and vote during the election, simply because they lost the presidential and governorship elections.
“And civil servants, especially those that are supporting PDP would also prefer to stay back in order to protect their jobs,” he said.
He also identified the ongoing fasting under a high temperature as another reason.
Zamfara
During the February 18 election, INEC had declared the polls in the central senatorial zone, Gusau/Tsafe and Gummi/Bukkuyum as inconclusive.
Zamfara central senatorial election is seen by many people as a hotly contested one because Senator Kabiru Marafa, believed to wield influence in Zamfara politics is being led in votes by ex-minister Aliyu Ikira Bilbis.
Bilbis had at a press conference, asked INEC to declare him the winner of the election. He said he had contacted his lawyers, and they had tendered evidence that he won the election. However, Senator Marafa has rejected the claim by Bilbis.
Many observers believe that the victory of the opposition PDP in the state governorship election is likely going to influence the outcome of the supplementary elections.
In the same vein, the ex-speaker of the state assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Garba Rikiji, of the APC is also contesting against the incumbent PDP’s Ahmadu Kabiru Mai Palace for the Gusau/Tsafe federal constituency. The constituency is regarded as a PDP stronghold.
Expect seamless electoral process – Police
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force says it has begun the deployment of both operational and human assets to the affected states. The police, a lead agency in election security, in an interview yesterday, disclosed that it has already joined forces with other security agencies ahead of the supplementary polls. The spokesman of the force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, told Daily Trust that Nigerians should expect a seamless electoral process during the supplementary elections.
“Nigerians should expect a seamless process; they should expect a more secured electoral process in the affected states,” he said.
We are set – INEC
Speaking on the elections, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the chief press secretary (CPS) to INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission at its meeting held on March 27, 2023, fixed Saturday, April 15th for the conduct of outstanding supplementary elections nationwide.
“The commission is fully prepared for the elections. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed as usual and we appeal to all political parties, their candidates, and stakeholders to allow the elections to hold unhindered.
“Election is not war. It is given that someone will win. Contestants who lost in an election should imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and try again next time. This is what democracy is all about,” Oyekanmi stated.
From Kabiru R. Anwar (Yola), Ismail Adebayo (Birnin Kebbi), Abubakar Auwal (Sokoto), Shehu Umar (Gusau) & Idowu Isamotu (Abuja)
