No Supplementary Election In Niger LGA, Says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says no rerun or supplementary election will be held in Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.

This followed speculations that the commission has declared results of the House of Assembly election conducted on March 9 in the LGA as inconclusive.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Niger, Professor Samuel Egwu, however, told Channels Television on Friday that INEC would not conduct either a rerun or supplementary election for Agaie.

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According to him, the electoral body declared the results of the election a day after the election held and based on the Electoral Act, INEC cannot declare results of an election twice.

Professor Egwu said although the Returning Officer in the LGA had claimed that he declared the result under duress, it was not enough to invalidate the entire election process.

“We are not going to Agaie for any rerun. We have declared the results. The facts of the declaration may be inconclusive, but we have declared the results,” he stated.

The REC, who said he would be in Benue State to participate in the supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday, added that it was left for aggrieved parties to seek redress in the court.

“Anyone who has problem with the declaration can go to court for settlement; but we are not going to conduct a rerun election,” he insisted.

Agaie LGA is the only local government area where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recorded victory in the just concluded elections.

The results released by INEC showed that the PDP candidate, Yahaya Abdullahi, polled a total of 18,026 votes to defeat Abdullahi Umar of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 17,920.

The outcome has generated controversy following the statement of the returning officer who claimed that he was threatened with death to declare the results.

He, however, did not give reveal any clue as to the political party which was involved.