Tempers on Tuesday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reversed itself on the stalled governorship election in Bauchi State.
It said the supplementary election, which it cancelled last week, will hold on Saturday in areas not affected by yesterday’s court ruling.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the electoral umpire to pull the brakes on its planned resumption of collation of results for Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been pushing for the collation and declaration of the results, rejected the decision.
Besides Bauchi, supplementary elections are holding also in Benue, Adamawa, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto states.
Amid the anxiety in Kano State, Governor Umar Ganduje warned against any breach of the peace.
His warning came as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) advised security agents and residents to hold former Governor Musa Kwanwaso responsible for any violence.
In Benue, the APC and the PDP renewed their war of words over the supplementary polls.
INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said the Commission, will work towards the expeditious resolution of the collation in the local government.
He said: “The commission has complied with the order of the Federal High Court Abuja. The Commission has suspended the collation of the governorship election result for Tafawa Balewa Local Government.
“The commission will proceed and complete the Collation of the result of the State Assembly Election for Tafawa Balewa Local Government and make a return.
“The Commission will proceed with supplementary elections on Saturday in relation to areas that are not affected by the court order.
“The commission has a history of obedience to court orders. The commission will continue to comply with court orders and will take steps to vacate orders where it feels strongly that the court that gave the order has no jurisdiction.
“The Commission will work towards the expeditious resolution of the collation process in Tafawa Balewa Local Government.”
