3 INEC Officials Nabbed With Diverted Election Materials In Karim

Three officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been arrested by the police over the diversion of election materials in Taraba State.

INEC conducted a by-election for the Karim Lamido I Constituency of the State House of Assembly, along with 15 other constituencies in 13 states across the country, on Saturday.

INEC declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Abner Shittu, as winner of the Karim-Lamido 1 State Constituency by-election in Taraba State.

The state INEC's Returning Officer, Mustapha Sa'ad, declared the results on Sunday.

The elections suffered from malpractices and low turnout of voters for the election.

According to Northern-based reporter Zagazola Makama, unnamed sources stated that a tip-off by party agents prompted the police to arrest the election management staff on Saturday.

"The sources said the incident occurred on August 16 at about 2:20 pm when a team of policemen intercepted the suspects at a private residence in Angwan Sarkin Panya village," Zagazola Makama wrote on X (Link archived here).

The election agents arrested were 49-year-old Gideon Amos, an Assistant Presiding Officer II posted to Polling Unit 16, Angwan Yusuf Dogo, Bikwin Ward, 47-year-old Matthew Jayi and 32-year-old Tiasama Mathias Musa.

They "allegedly diverted materials meant for three polling units, PU 005 Gandara, PU 016 Angwan Yusuf Dogo, and PU 029 Angwan Sarkin Primary School, to the residence".

The police were said to have retrieved various items, including three ballot boxes, two BIVAS machines, 19 booklets and 20 pieces of ballot papers, two stamp pads with ink, one marker and two result sheets, from the suspects.

 

The police also met some resistance as Police Constable Christian Garba "had his uniform forcibly removed by hoodlums who fled with it".

When ballot papers and other critical voting materials are diverted, the actors usually go to hidden location to mass-thumbprint the the papers and stuff them into a ballot box to set them up as valid votes.

James Lashen, spokesperson for the Taraba Police Command, did not immediately answer calls placed across to him on Sunday. WhatsApp and text messages seeking to get more details had got no response at press time.           Source FIJ