INEC suspends collation of Bauchi guber poll results

The Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) has suspended the collation of the governorship election in Bauchi state.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, Bauchi resident electoral commissioner (REC), announced this at a press briefing on Tuesday.

He said it was in line with a court order restraining INEC from resuming collation.

A federal high court in Abuja had ordered the commission not to proceed with the exercise based on a motion filed by Mohammed Abubakar, incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abubakar had asked the court to compel INEC to go ahead with supplementary election it had earlier fixed for Saturday.

Abdullahi said the order did not affect the state house of assembly election, disclosing that the commission would go ahead with collation of Tafawa Balewa constituency and subsequently announce the winner.

“As you are aware, we have been indulged by members of the press as to the news that in respect of the news making the rounds in respect of Tafawa Balewa,” he said.

“So I am to inform you formally that the Independent National Electoral Commission is in receipt of a court order restraining it from proceeding with the collation and announcement of results in respect of Tafawa Balewa only.

“I’m also to add that the order which was sort and granted does not include the Tafawa Balewa constituency, hence we will make arrangements to continue with the state constituency collation and subsequently announce the results.”

In Tafawa Balewa, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 40,010 votes while the AC had 20,862 but the result was rejected because it was recorded in a replacement form without approval from the state returning officer.

The collation officer had said suspected hoodlums took away the original result sheet.