There was heavy security presence around the area while supporters of some political parties were awaiting the commencement of the exercise, only for them to learn a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to go ahead with its plan to collate, conclude and announce the results of the governorship election in Bauchi State held on March 9, which had been previously declared inconclusive by the INEC returning officer in the state, Mohammed Kyari.
The decision by INEC to halt the resumption was prompted by an interim injunction by the court restraining the electoral umpire. Justice Inyang Ekwo, made the order based on an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar; who has stated his preference for supplementary polls to be conducted in the state. The restraining order will last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs.
The applicant prayed the court for an order of Interim Injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding or announcing the result of the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State in respect of the election to the office of Governor of Bauchi State. Justice Ekwo ordered INEC to appear before the court on Wednesday for hearing of the suit filed against it by the APC and its candidate in the election, Governor Abubakar, who is seeking re-election.
Although INEC represented, by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Tanimu Inuwa, approached the court with a motion challenging its jurisdiction, counsel to the plaintiffs, Ahmed Raji, however, objected to the application, informing the court that the order issued Monday, asking INEC to show probable cause why the requests of the plaintiffs should not be granted had not been obeyed. The judge, however, ordered electoral umpire to halt the proceedings till the court give the final order.
The March gubernatorial elections were declared inconclusive following a disruption in the collation process at Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area which led to the cancellation of results for the entire LGA. In declaring the election inconclusive, Kyari said the differences of 4,059 votes between the PDP and APC candidates was less than 45,312, which was the number of cancelled votes after results from 19 local government were collated.
INEC then dispatched a committee to investigate the cancellation of the result from Tafawa Balewa LGA. The committee established that all the valid votes in the affected areas were captured on card readers, which could be retrieved. Last Friday, INEC said it would resume the collation of results of the LGA after considering a report submitted by Kyari. The electoral authority also appointed a new collation and returning officer for the LGA to conclude the collation process after Mrs. Dominion Anosike withdrew over alleged threat to her life and her family.
But the incumbent Governor Abubakar challenged commission’s decision to resume collation after INEC had announced supplementary elections in Bauchi for March 23. Abubakar travelled twice to Aso Rock; first to meet with Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo; and later with President Buhari, who encouraged him to challenge INEC in court. The Governor has also accused INEC of allegedly usurping the role of the Returning Officers, claiming that when the Return Officer during elections declares results, only the Election Petitions Tribunal has the power to reverse it.
“The Returning Officer for Bauchi State at the end of collation rejected the result of Tafawa Balewa local government and then 36 other units spread around 15 local governments of Bauchi state and ordered a rerun. Surprisingly, we woke up one morning and the independent National Electoral Commission came up with a procedure that is not known to law. Because, where a Returning Officer has declared the result, only an election petition tribunal can reverse the result. But INEC is attempting to reverse itself in the case of Bauchi.”
