Nasarawa Assembly re-run: Votes buying Characterized election, as PDP hails INEC, Security for peaceful poll ***APC, NNPP clinches Keana, Doma Constituencies

By David Okpashi

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies in Nasarawa state have been lauded for the peaceful conduct of the re-run assembly election in Keana Local government Area of Nasarawa state.

State Chairman of PDP, Hon. Francis Orogu who gave the commendation while reacting to the conduct of assembly poll, however criticized and condemned the alleged high level of vote buying by government officials including the Deputy governor, Dr Emmanuel Agbadu Akabe and the APC state chairman, Aliyu Bello.

Speaking addressing journalists after the declaration of election result, Orogu further noted with satisfaction the role played by INEC and the security agencies which brought about peaceful conduct of the assembly poll.

Orogu argued that participation of the Deputy governor in a constituency election outside his constituency does not represent the tenet of democracy.

“How can a deputy governor abandoned his constituency where a similar assembly election was holding to participate in the same election in another constituency. The act of the deputy governor is not only condemnable but does not represent a true democracy Nigerians are yearning for”, Orogu lamented.

“It is a disturbing issue in Nasarawa where public funds are used by highly placed government officials to finance not even governorship election, a constituency election. We must find away to address this disturbing trends in Nasarawa state”. The opposition PDP Chairman declared.

In a swift reaction, the Senior Special Assistant to governor Abdullahi Sule on public Affairs, Peter Ahemba denounced the claims by the opposition PDP Chairman saying that conduct of the assembly poll in Keana was free, fair and credible.

“I’m not surprised hearing allegation of votes buying in the assembly rerun election in Keana. The electorates came out in their numbers and cast their votes for their preferred candite under a close supervision of the INEC officials, security agencies and the journalists who were on ground, PDP should go and put their house in order and stop complaining”, Ahemba stated.

Meanwhile the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Mohammed Omadefu was declared as the winner of Keana Constituency for the Nasarawa State House of Assembly’s rerun election.

The rerun election in Keana was however alleged to be characterized by vote buying, voter apathy and government influence.

The Keana constituency election was declared inconclusive following an order by the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja in November 2023.

The rerun election was held in five poling units in Agaza ward of Keana Local Government Area.

The units where election was held include: Kofar Sarki 001, Kofar Inuwa 002, Central Primary School A 003, Central Primary School B 004, as well as Kofar Gazagu 005, with a total of 2,310 PVCs collected.

Declaring the result in Keana, the Returning Officer for the Constituency, Dr. Hassan Imam of the Federal University of Lafia, said the APC candidate pulled 557 votes to defeat his closet rival, Basil Osheka of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 470.

He explained that during the rerun election votes gotten by each candidate was added to the votes scored by the candidates during the March 18, 2023 general elections.

Dr. Hassan therefore said that the APC candidate then had 8, 069 votes while the  candidate of PDP got 7, 917.

Commenting on his victory, the APC candidate expressed gratitude to the people of Agaza Electoral ward and the entire Keana for their love and support and promised to consolidate on his previous achievements