From: Magnus Aluma, Abakaliki In a manner that could best be described as a...
From: Magnus Aluma, Abakaliki
In a manner that could best be described as a dramatic twist of fate, Nigeria’s electoral umpire, INEC has finally been wooed by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The seemingly irresistible pressure from the rulling party had left the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with no better option than to backdate it’s documents, to recognize the Senate President, Lawan, Akpabio and others as senatorial candidates.
AfricaNewscircle learnt that Bashir Machina won APC’s ticket for Yobe North Senatorial District, while Udom Ekpoudom won the primary election for Akwa Ibom North West, which was reportedly monitored by INEC officials.
A certified true copy of INEC’s report from the election held in Yobe on May 28, 2022, revealed that Machina polled a total of 289 votes out of 300 delegates.
National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu had earlier warned that a severe sanction awaits Machina, if he refuses to relinguish his ticket to Lawn.
He claimed that the party is supreme and reserves the right to decide who gets it’s ticket in any election.
In Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio won in another primary election, but INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mike Igini said the exercise which produced the former minister as a candidate, was not monitored by the INEC.
Recall that SaharaReporters had earlier reported moves by the electoral body to shred the reports of the Resident Electoral Commissioners in the affected states, by backdating them in favour of Lawn, Akpabio and others.
A source alleged that INEC chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu is fully involved in this plot, making direct phone calls to state offices of the Commission.
SaharaReporters recently came up with a report that the certified true copy of reports had been doctored and back dated to accommodate the Senate President and the former Akwa Ibom State Governor.
Sources affirmed that Nigerians will be shocked to see Lawan and Akpabio’s names on the ballot as senatorial candidates, despite serial claims by the the INEC chairman, that their names would be missing on the list.
Meanwhile, the discordant tunes from states where party primaries were riddled with pockets of irregularities, have possed doubts on the capability of INEC to conduct a credible election, come 2023.
