SHEMA WINNING IN KATSINA

The governor however lost Daura Local Government Area, the home base of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential standard bearer of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), just as the governorship candidate of the CPC and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, lost his constituency, Kafur Local Government Area to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Similarly, the governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Usman Bugaje, also lost his constituency, Jibia Local Government.

Meanwhile, reports submitted by Returning Officers in various local Governments also revealed some electoral malpractices in the gubernatorial polls.

In Batsari, the Returning Officer, Abubakar Umar, said hoodlums burnt down the ballot box in one of the polling units in the area when their attempt to snatch the box was rebuffed by voters.

In another breathe; hoodlums snatched the ballot papers in two polling units in Safana Local Government Area, thumb printed the papers and stuffed the ballot boxes before the arrival of security operatives. The results in the two units were consequently cancelled.

The Returning Officer in Jibia Local Government also reported that some miscreants forced the presiding officer at a polling station in the area to enter false result into the INEC documents. The result of the unit was promptly thrown off.

The result has been summarily rejected by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) The governorship standard bearer of the CPC and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, faulted the result, saying the system that produced the result was not bound to give credible result. Also addressing a press conference in Katsina ahead of the formal declaration of the Tuesday polls result, the gubernatorial candidate of ACN, Dr. Usman Bugaje, said 'what transpired yesterday was anything but an election.'

Bugaje went on: 'We can not see how INEC will allow any result to be announced. We reject, totally and unequivocally, any result arising from this election. We suspect INEC will typically ignore the opposition and proceed to announce the result and ask us to go to the tribunal.

'We know the tribunals enough not to bother. We take INEC, the security agencies and the PDP to the court of public opinion of the people of Katsina State.'