INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu: 2 adhoc staff missing in Zamfara

By Abubakar Ahmed/Bakura Zamfara

Two ad-hoc staff recruited as Presiding Officers for the December 5 in the State House of Assembly by-election in Bakura, Zamfara State, have been declared missing by a superior official.

While submitting her report to the returning officer, the Registration Area Supervisor of Bakura Ward 001, Prof. A’isha Bawa announced that the two INEC adhoc staff were missing.

She also said she was yet to receive results from two polling units as she could not see either the staff nor the election results.

The Daily Trust, in a related report suggested that the officers may have been kidnapped by bandits.

The newspaper said suspected armed bandits on Saturday disrupted the voting process during the State Assembly election in Oroji village in Rini ward of Bakura Local Government Area.

A voter identified as Suleiman Muhammad Rini told the newspaper that at about 8:30 am when election officials arrived at the polling unit for voting proper to start, a group of armed men suddenly appeared from a forest and headed to the polling unit

The election for the constituency was keenly contested by the APC and PDP.

But the Returning Officer, Prof. Ibrahim Magawata declared the election inconclusive.

This followed many breaches of the election process, leading to the cancellation of results from 14 polling units.

Some of the reasons given were alleged malpractices and over-voting. in some polling units, the exercise was inconclusive.

The PDP is leading the APC with 2,181 votes.

In the collated results, PDP has 18,645 votes, APC 16,464.

Magawata explained that the votes expected from the 14 cancelled Polling Units are 11,429 votes, higher than the margin announced.

INEC is expected to address the media over the next line of action.