Senator Aisha Alhassan, the only woman in the governorship race in Nigeria, has related her own account on what transpired in the north eastern state of Taraba that made the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare the result inconclusive.

Aisha spoke at a press conference in Abuja today, where she narrated the many infractions carried out by INEC officials, in collussion with security agencies and officials of the Peoples Democratic Party, the governing party in the state. Here is her unvarnished story:

“I am Senator Aisha Alhassan, the Governorship candidate of my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the April 11th Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Taraba State.

“As you are very much aware, INEC has declared the Governorship election in Taraba State inconclusive, because – according to the electoral commission – the number of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the votes gathered by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) candidate, that is my humble self, and Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“However, that conclusion by INEC does not reflect what really transpired in the said elections, hence the need to bring to the attention of Nigerians, and indeed the global community, the true situation.

‘I have briefed my party, both at the state and national levels, about the elections, and will summarize here the details of those briefings concerning the Taraba elections

“In Sardauna, PDP officials colluded with INEC officials to reduce APC Governorship votes from 72,584 to 28,860, after having declared the initial result of 72,584 in favour of the APC at the polling units.

“In many Wards cutting across many Local Governments, the elections did not hold in accordance with INEC guidelines.

“Despite several reports, complaints and protests to INEC ( SPOs, EOs, REC and ROs) by our party field officers, myself and the state party chairman on the irregularities while going on and after, at collation levels, the INEC failed to react and went ahead to accept most of the flawed results.

“The affected Local Governments are: Wukari, Kurmi, Yorro, Karim Lamido, Ardo Kola, Sardauna, Zing, Bali, Lau, Donga and Takum. That’s eleven out of the sixteen local governments in which various irregularities were recorded in the State. After much pressure and complaints at the state collation center the INEC cancelled only the results of Donga local government and some few units in the remaining local governments complained of, leaving a chunk of results of other areas complained of.

“Here is a summary of the problems with the elections in the listed local governments:

1. Widespread non-use of Card Readers or Destruction of the machines.
2. Non accreditation of voters
3. Subversion of the rights of the people to exercise their franchise
4. The use of security agencies in aid of the PDP
5. Kidnap of electoral officials by the PDP with the help of security agencies.
6. Ballot stuffing
7. Collation of results in non-INEC designated areas
8. The non delivery of electoral materials in many parts of the Local Governments listed above
9. The apparent complicity of INEC officials at all levels in the state
10. The resort to vote allocations on results sheets
11. And the violence that led to injuries and loss of lives

“Let me now give some specific instances in some of the Local Governments listed above

“At Jibu Ward in Wukari: Voting took place in only three out of 27 polling units.
At Bantaje Ward also in Wukari, voting took place in only 11 out of 56 polling units, but results for all the polling units were returned.

“In Kurmi, Card Readers were not used at all and election did not take place. The PDP simply relied on security agencies to rig the polls and write results.

“In Yorro, Voting materials were snatched while residences of PDP officials were used for ballot stuffing and writing results. APC agents were brutally beaten and chased out of voting centers.

“In Karim Lamido, the local government of the present Acting Governor who personally, with the aid of his security escorts, spearheaded ballot snatching and abduction of electoral officials, Card Readers were not used in many places APC agents were chased away and results written in favour of the PDP.

“In Sardauna, PDP officials colluded with INEC officials to reduce APC Governorship votes from 72,584 to 28,860, after having declared the initial result of 72,584 in favour of the APC at the polling units.

“In Karim Lamido, the local government of the present Acting Governor who personally, with the aid of his security escorts, spearheaded ballot snatching and abduction of electoral officials, Card Readers were not used in many places APC agents were chased away and results written in favour of the PDP.

“And in Takum, APC agents were chased away, with some of them shot at and injured by security agents, Card Readers were not used and INEC Collation Officers refused to collate results in several Wards. In some wards of Takum LGA like Kashimbila and chanchanji, there was violence and destruction of sensitive materials but results were still returned.

“It is also pertinent to mention the blatantly partisan and shameful role of INEC in the conduct of the Gubernatorial elections in the state. The Resident Electoral Commissioner never hid his partisanship and bias, as he ignored all our complaints and petitions.

“Also, as part of the irregularities, we were reliably informed that one Bala Aji, a native of Wukari Local Government who heads the ICT unit at the INEC office in Jalingo ( he is the custodian of PVCs, card readers and is responsible for configuring the card readers) issued to the PDP the unclaimed PVCs and card readers to be used for rigging the elections in Wukari and other local governments in favour of the PDP.

CONCLUSION

“In view of the information stated above, we have decided to make the following calls

1. INEC should set aside the declaration of inconclusive result for Taraba State. The results of all the areas affected by irregularities in the eleven local governments should be cancelled outrightly, after which a fresh collation should be done and a winner declared

2. Alternatively, the result of the entire State should be cancelled and a fresh election conducted. This is in view of the widespread irregularities in most of the Local Government Areas of the State

3. In the event that the overall result is cancelled and a fresh election ordered, such should not be conducted under the supervision of the current INEC officials in Taraba State, as they have shown sufficient evidence of bias and complicity in the April 11th election. A total overhaul of the INEC in Taraba should be a pre-requisite for any fresh election in the State.

4. The National headquarters of INEC should immediately launch a probe into the conduct of the April 11th Governorship election in Taraba, to ensure that the rights of the people of Taraba State to choose their leaders are not abridged by conniving INEC officials, security and desperate PDP members.

5. Finally considering the partisan posture of the security in the state during the April 11th general election, there should be massive redeployments in the interest of fairness and justice.”