Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer for the Tudun Wada/Doguwa House of Representative election held on February 25, 2023, has admitted that he declared the election results under duress.
The university don made this known in a letter to the state’s INEC resident electoral commissioner, obtained by Edugist on social media. Recall that the majority leader of the house of representatives, Ado Doguwa was declared the winner of the Doguwa-Tudunwada constituency election on February 25 by the electoral body.
Yakasai, the returning officer, had previously announced that Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got 39,732 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), who received 34,798 votes. Meanwhile, in the letter, the returning officer claimed that he declared Doguwa as the winner on of death threats. His letter read, “I served as the Returning Officer for the 2023 Tudun Wada/Doguwa House of Representatives elections whose results were declared by me on the 26th February 2023.
“However, I will like to testify that the declaration made was under duress for fear of losing my life and that other INEC officials who were with me. The collation area was completed under siege, threatening to burn down the INEC facility if I did not declare the result within one hour. I was completely traumatised, hopeless and confused which did not give me the stability of mind to work by the Electoral Act and election guidelines as areas or polling units where the elections were cancelled, the total number of accredited voters was not compared with a margin of the scores that led to the declaration and finally the situation my colleagues and found ourselves could not allow us to attend to the complaints of non-use of BVAS in some polling units.
“I hope my statement would be kindly looked at and necessary action to be taken by section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.”
According to The Cable, a Nigerian digital news platform, Doguwa’s name was not on the list of elected members of the House of Representatives for the 10th assembly that INEC published Tuesday morning.
“However, as of Tuesday morning, Doguwa’s name was missing from the list of elected house of representatives members released by INEC,” the cable reported. Section 65 (1) of the 2022 Electoral Act empowers INEC to review the declaration made by a returning officer under duress. The section reads: “The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to –
(a) unmarked ballot paper;
(b) rejected ballot paper; and
(c) declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate: “Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations and guidelines, and manual for the election.
