Former Vice President and Chief of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has said the Independent National Electoral Commission and security officials, implicated in the conduct of last Saturday’s governorship election in Taraba State, should be replaced with new personnel before the rerun in the state.
Atiku said this while welcoming INEC’s decision to cancel the governorship election results in some local government areas of Taraba State and declare the outcome of last Saturday’s polls in the state inconclusive.
This was contained in a statement by the Atiku Media office on Wednesday.
It quoted the Turaki Adamawa as agreeing with the widespread reports of irregularities in some local governments of the state.
“These irregularities included using armed personnel to intimidate voters,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President alleged that armed soldiers were attached to Senator Emmanuel Bwacha; Joel Ikenya, a current minister; as well as Senator Anthony Manzo, chief of staff to senator David Mark.
He said these soldiers engaged in brazen acts that violated the electoral act including ballot box snatching.
Atiku said, “Elections should not be militarised, Nigeria is a democracy, not a dictatorship. Citizens should be able to go out and vote without fear of being threatened with the nuzzle of a gun.”
He added that such election violations were noticeably perpetrated in Southern Taraba, specifically in Wukari, Takum, Kurmi and Donga lGAs as well as the North, particularly in Lau and Yoro, where Manzo comes from.
Atiku noted that troops were deployed in these areas and electoral officers were heavily compromised.
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