Bauchi by-election: PDP accuses APC of electoral heist, rejects result

The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), has returned the candidate of the APC Yahaya Gumau who scored 119, 489 as duly elected while PDP candidate, Ladan Salihu, who scored 50,256 votes was declared runner-up in the election.
Reacting to the victory of the APC, PDP said the election was “the most scandalous ever in the history of Bauchi state and Bauchi South in particular.”
The party also alleged collusion between security agents, INEC officials and those of the state government to rig the election.
Addressing a press conference at the party secretariat in Bauchi on Monday, the state chairman of PDP, Hamza Akuyam, said the by-election was an enactment of what the state government scripted, and rehearsed over a long period of time.

“This was carefully rehearsed and executed with active participation of law enforcement agencies and officials of the INEC.”
He alleged widespread vote buying during the exercise, alleging that “APC-led government officials openly lured citizens with cash for their votes.”
“Votes were sold for anything between N100 up to N5,000 – simply put, the ballot paper became the most sought after commodity in the zone during the exercise.
“Bauchi State Government colluded with the voting clerks and other electoral officers to stash ballot boxes with excess ballot papers only to turn around and cancel votes from the same boxes, then blame dubious card readers and over-voting.
“The social media is awash with damning revelations, scandalous videos and pictures of rigging as captured. The most shocking part of it is that the officials of the APC-led government in the state showed no respect for the law or the rights of the voters.”
“This is the first time in our democratic history that over 80,000 votes were cancelled in an election where only 256,763 were cast.
“We also have evidence that card readers were also not used in the larger part of Toro local government; which explained the massive number of votes secured by the APC compared to Bauchi which has more centers and registered voters.
“It is also regrettable that the state office of the INEC became theatre of electoral malpractice and manipulation where figures were scandalously re-jigged to favour the APC.”