A stalemate has been reported in the collation of results of last Saturday’s governorship election in Taraba State.
A report this afternoon by the online edition of Daily Trust said that some youths had tried to block results from Mbamgar Constituency from being taken to collation centre, a situation which later snowballed into crisis in the area.
“It was further learnt that the situation in the area has also made it difficult for INEC electoral officers to convey results of Sardauna local government area to the INEC headquarters in Jalingo for final declaration of the guber result,” the report said.
It quoted Taraba Police Spokesman, ASP Joseph Kwaji, as saying: “Some youths from a political party decided to gang up and invaded some houses. Our men have moved there to calm the situation. I am yet to ascertain the level of casualties in the area.”
Already, law and order has broken down in the area, according to Daily Trust. “Suspected thugs razed the houses of Secretary to the Taraba State Government, Gebon Timothy Kataps and that of former Deputy Speaker of Taraba state assembly, Abel Peter Diah,” the paper reported, adding:
“Their personal apartments in Gembu, headquarters of Sardauna local government area of the state were touched by youths believed to be from opposition party in the area. The SSG and the ex-deputy speaker who were in the area at the time are said to have gone into hiding following the development.”
Results from the 15 out of 16 local government areas of Taraba had earlier been released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead with 297,552 while Aisha Jummai Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had earlier been reported as winner by the media on Sunday, trailed with 234,032 votes.
•Photo shows APC guber candidate, Aisha Jummai Alhassan.
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