LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Thugs have interfered with the process of collating results for the presidential and national assembly elections in the Northern Senatorial District of Plateau.
NAN reports that, On 27 February, thugs broke into the location and chased away Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and other ad hoc employees, stopping the process.
According to the results, Musa Agah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored the highest votes.
The thugs arrived just as Nehemiah Sanda, the Jos North/Bassa constituency election’s returning officer, asked party representatives to sign the collated results.
The Returning Officer for the Presidential election for Jos North local government area, Dr Lazurus Maigoro, confirmed the incident to NAN.
He stated that there was a lot of tension at the collation center, and he added that thugs prevented the results of the senatorial district election and the constituency poll from being announced.
“Yes, it is true that thugs invaded our collation centre while we were doing our job. It is now up to the INEC to know what to do next,” he said.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the State, Dr. Oliver Agundu, who also confirmed the occurrence, stated that he was yet to receive a thorough briefing on it.
“I wasn’t at the scene of the incident and I have been busy with the collation of results for the presidential elections in the state.
“But I will meet with my officers concerned, get proper briefing and then act accordingly.
“But I want to assure the people of Plateau that as an electoral umpire, we will not do anything that will sabotage the peaceful nature of the state,” he said.
However, Dachung Bagos (PDP-Jos South/Jos East) has called on INEC to declare the results within 24 hours to avert any situation that would lead to impending crisis in Jos and environs
“Elections in Jos North/Bassa constituency were held peacefully and results were equally collated in a peaceful manner.
“I think declaring the winner of the election should not generate any tension, because all electoral processes were duly followed.
“So, I urge INEC to announce the results for the constituency and that of the northern senatorial district within the next 24 hours,” he called.