Some notable party Chieftains have engaged in popularity supremacy at Magajin Gari ward ‘B’ Shiyyar Danfarijo polling unit 005 and 009, where supplementary polls are taking place.
This led to chaos in the supplementary poll for the Sokoto North local government area of Sokoto state.
The presence of party Chieftains, Alhaji Murtala Daniya of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and two All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, a one time chairman of Sokoto North LGA and APC youth leader, Nasiru Italiya at the polling center disrupted the procesess.
Police had to use teargas on the crowd and deployed more personnel before normalcy was restored after the election was put on hold for about three hours.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Daniya of the PDP, who was among the early voters, displayed his ballot sheet to the public, a situation that led to throwing of sand and objects at INEC officials, security men and the party chieftains.
The Presiding Officer, Mr Otu Cassius, told NAN that they reported for election duty as early as 7 a.m and that screening and voting commenced simultaneously as there were no hitches with the card reader.
Cassius, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, said the processes were well untill the incident.
A PDP agent at the polling unit, Alhaji Bashiru Abdulkadir told NAN that it was right for Daniya to publicly display what he voted because even a presidential candidate did it after voting in the just concluded presidential election.
However, the APC agent Muntari Muhammad opposed the position, stressing that it violated electoral laws and said he had lodged a complain to the authorities.
NAN reports that voting went smoothly at Sarkin Yaki Polling unit 008 in Sarkin
Musulmi Ward ‘B’ and Danhilin Hubbare polling unit 004 also in Sarkin Musulmi Ward ‘B’ in Sokoto North LGA.
The apresiding officers at the units, Ahmad Hassan and Sa’adatu Adamu said they reported early and election commenced at 8 a.m.
APC State Treasurer, Alhaji Haruna Adiya, who voted at Kyafe polling unit 008 in Magajin Rafi ward ‘B’, urged authorities to deploy more security men to regulate the rowdy situation.
Mr Zakari Umar, the Supervisor of Domestic Election Observer in Sokoto North LGA, said the processes were orderly in line with regulations.
Umar, who is from YAGA Africa said incident forms were being compiled to be reported to relevant authorities.
NAN gathered that vote buying became the order of the day at Rajiya polling unit 004 in Sokoto South local government area.
The situation led to the arrival of the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Garba Danjuma and other security chiefs at the polling unit.
ASP. Muhammad Sadiq, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) assured that the situation was under control.
“In every election we expect some challenges but presently the situation is under control as you can see.
“We will tackle all irregularities and maintain the peaceful atmosphere through out the exercise, ” he said.
Electorates in PU 003 Magajin Rafi B Ward, Sokoto North LGA, experienced delay during the rerun election on Saturday.
It was gathered that the delay was due to malfunctioning of card reader.
At exactly 8:30 in Hubare 004 (PU), Sokoto North LGA, election had started.
Also at Shiyar Danfarijo Magaji Gari ward B, Sokoto North Local Government, 005 and 009 the exercise commenced at about 8:01 with large turnouts recorded.
Elections in Sokoto State in the March 9 governorship election had been declared inconclusive.
The electoral umpire had consequently fixed a rerun for this Saturday, march 23, 2019.
The battle is between Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and his main rival, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Tambuwal is already leading the poll with 3,413 votes.
Tambuwal polled 489, 558 in 12 LGAs while 486, 145 pollied in 11 LGAs
According to INEC, the number of cancelled votes in the state is 75,4003.
The commission also announced that the votes are spread among 136 polling units in 22 of the 23 local governments in the state.
arewa.ng, brings you live updates of events as they unfold in the supplementary polls.
