‘They Wanted To Burn Us Down If We Didn’t Declare Ado Doguwa Winner’-  Kano INEC Official

Collation Officers from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, sent to conduct election in the Tudun Wada/Doguwa Federal Constituency on Saturday, February 25 have revealed to THE WHISTLER their encounter with political thugs who threatened to burn them alive if they did not declare the result of the election.

Speaking on Saturday on condition of anonymity, a senior member of the collation officers narrated how the police struggled to repel the thugs who tried to overpower them.

Recall the election which was held alongside the presidential and Senate elections was declared inconclusive by the INEC a few days ago over violence and irregularities.

In the video that emanated after the announcement of the results by the returning officer, a lecturer from Bayero University Kano, Ibrahim Yakassai, the collation officers were said to have been put under duress.

Yakassai was seen declaring the result in fear, which reflected in his shaky voice.

He had declared that Ado Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress, APC, got 39,732 votes, while his main challenger, Salisu Abdullahi, of the New Nigeria People Party, NNPP, got 34, 798. The  PDP candidate, Jamilu Daywabu, scored 7,091 votes.

After the declaration of results, the secretariat of the NNPP was set ablaze and some persons were killed.

The police immediately arrested Doguwa in connection with the attack and has been charged to court.

The collation officer who spoke with this paper commended the INEC for annulling the result.

Recounting what happened, he said, “The election was marred by violence. The first time we sent our coalition officers to the field, after an hour, they all came back running from the whole 80% of the places we sent them.

“They all came back running, that the whole place was either seriously attacked or they were seized.

“Most of them came back with broken ballot boxes, even some BVAS were missing. So, we found it practically impossible for them to be able to go back.”

He explained further that, “The only alternative they (collation officers) had was for them to stay within the INEC office to do their reconciliation or figure. From the little results they got, they decided to sit down to reconcile.

“We at the collation centre, we made sure anywhere there was violence, we cancelled the election because that’s what the law says.

“The results we had available from the little ones they brought was what we made use of.  The majority of them were cancelled.

“Normally at the end of the collation, you check the margin of victory between the two top candidates, and then you compare it to the number of PVC collected.

“So, if the number of PVC is in excess of the margin between the two candidates, so automatically, the winner will not be declared then there would be a supplementary election.

“So, what i was not allowed to announce was that very calculation, because we observed that there were quite a number of cancellations. Actually, we had to know the actual number of PVCs that were cancelled and compare them to the margin of victory.

“We finished our computation and we wanted to do the second part of it. So, there was commotion in the area. We were forced to do (announce) otherwise the whole place would be put ablaze as we were surrounded.”

According to him, “Initially, we had wanted to transfer the coalition area to Kano so we’ll have enough time to finish our calculation and then make the announcement but they insisted that we must do it there and we must declare it.”

He pointed out that it was difficult to know the agents of the political party that was forcing them to declare the result noting that the “atmosphere was tense, we were scared for our lives.”*

He insisted that, “We were forced to do what we didn’t want to do, because of my belief that the calculation had not ended. If we had not declared that result, anything would have happened to us.

“So, we had to make the pronouncement. We had to declare the winner.

“Then with the help of security agents, they took us out of a place and then they bundled us into the car and then ran away immediately after we had declared.”

He further explained that “the secretariat of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, was not far away from the INEC Secretariat.

“The place was so tense. In fact, the police had to force their way out through the crowd and then out of the town when they carried us.

“Throughout my stay, I was at the secretariat. I never had the opportunity to come out to see what was happening.

“The actual mayhem started when we had announced the results.

“He (the Majority House Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa) was leading. There was nothing we could do. We had to announce it.

“Immediately they moved us out of the place, the mayhem worsened and continued.

“The fight was between the party agents, both the NNPP and APC. They were the ones who fought. Any other news I was just hearing but for me I escaped, I didn’t stay to witness it.”