By Gideon Njoku
A Professor at the Bayero University, Kano, Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, has confessed that the results he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at the National Collation Centre, were fake.
Professor Yakassai was an Electoral Officer in the February 25, 2023, Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
In a letter he personally signed and addressed to the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Yakassai said he and the other officers, were forced to sign and submit the fake results so as to save their lives.
He said they were threatened with instant death by thugs who invaded his Collation Centre, and threatened to burn down the facility unless he announced the fake results within the hour. To save their lives and the INEC facility, he obeyed them and announced fake results.
Part of his letter reads:
“I served as Electoral Officer for the 2023 Tudun Wada/Doguwa House of Representatives elections, the results of which I announced on February 26, 2023.
“I would like to testify that the statement I made was under duress for fear of losing my life and that of other INEC officials who were with me.
“The Collation area was completed under siege by thugs who threatened to burn down the INEC facility if I didn’t report the result within an hour.
“I was completely traumatized, hopeless, and confused which did not give me the mental stability to work in accordance with the Electoral law and Electoral Guidelines”
According to him, a number of polling stations where elections were canceled, did not “compare to the total number of accredited voters on the fringes.”
Lamenting, he said the difficult situation they “found ourselves in could not allow us to deal with the complaints about the non-use of BVAS in some polling stations.
“I hope that my testimony will be kindly examined and that the necessary action will be taken under Section 65 of the Elections Act 2022.”
The conduct of the Elections on February 25, has been strongly dismissed by not a few people as very much below standard.
