Nasarawa state has been in a state of despair over alleged manipulation of the Gubernatorial election results by Independent National Electoral Commission Collation and Returning Officer, Ishaya Tanko who is also the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Plateau State.
According to report, Tanko’s actions have resulted in protests, tears, and despair, his complicity in the guber elections held on Saturday, March 18, 2023 has had a profound impact on the psyche of the people and activities in the Nasarawa state.
The report stated futher that in local governments such as Awe and Lafia, where the government holds sway, results were deliberately delayed, causing great anxiety among the populace.
In the state capital, wards such as Ciroma and Gayam were unable to complete collation in two days, while other states had already concluded their elections in a single day.
The two wards are less than 3 minutes drive or about 10 minutes walk from the collation centre, yet, collated Polling Unit results could not be delivered. They were being delayed for the dirty job.
However, the chaos was compounded when the panel decided to proceed on break only for Gayam and Ciroma wards to be arbitrarily ruled inconclusive under suspicious circumstances.
The police and other agencies appeared to be acting in cahoot with INEC and State Government officials. The inconsistencies in the election results are also deeply troubling. For instance, total summary in numbers of governorship votes suspiciously rose from 540,566 to 650,357.
Furthermore, it was reported that in Lafia LGA, 154,677 votes were cast for the governorship, while only 70,000 votes were received for the House of Assembly election in the same election usungvthe same BVAS.
It suggests that some voters only turned up at the polls to vote for governorship, leaving the House of Assembly ballots uncollected? The outcome of the election was undoubtedly influenced by Tanko’s tardiness.
There appeared to be an extraordinary population explosion in all of the wards and local govts that were collated late, resulting in 109,791 new voters, with 91,000 of them coming from the two local governments whose announcement INEC had postponed.
It was alleged that Tanko suspiciously reconvened the collation at 7am when PDP members and agents had already left the center as ordered and directed by INEC officilas, and declared AA Sule the winner.
Adding that the collusion between Tanko, Atiku, AA Sule, and other political heavyweights in the state is evident. Atiku allegedly supported AA Sule of APC over David Ombagadu, the PDP candidate for governor, because of religious and ethnic sentiments and a long business history with AA Sule.
Governor Yahaya Bello, Elrufai, and Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima, were also reportedly seen in Nasarawa at the time of the electoral heist, suggesting that there was more going on in the state than meets the eye.
The situation is worsened by the fact that Tanko’s wife is the secretary of the High Court in Abuja, and should the case go to court, she may have a role to play there.
Even more disheartening is the fact that Professor Tanko, a native of Southern Kebbi, allowed himself to be used as a tool to subjugate other Middle Belt natives.
The outcome of the elections has left the people of Nasarawa in a state of despair. Women are protesting naked against what they call “their stolen mandate.”
The tears and cries of these women reflect the pain and agony that the people of Nasarawa state are experiencing. The electoral fraud has not only caused chaos but has also shattered the hopes and dreams of the people of Nasarawa.
While women in Akwanga Local government Area of Nasarawa State, on Friday, stripped themselves half- naked to protest the outcome of the governorship election in the state, demanding, among other things, the cancellation of the governorship election, causing traffic gridlock.
It would be recalled that Governor Abdullahi Sule of the APC, was returned as the winner of the election after defeating People’s Democratic Party, PDP’, candidate,’s David Umbugadu, with 64,193 margin.