The collation officer of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area in Bauchi State during last Saturday’s governorship election Mrs. Dominion Anosike has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that she is ready to testify before the investigation committee set up to review the reasons for the cancellation of the result sheets for Tafawa Balewa Local Government which led to the rejection of the results and the subsequent election re-run scheduled for 23rd March, 2019.
During the Saturday 9th March, 2019 governorship elections the returning officer, for Bauchi State, Muhammed Kyari, rejected the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government, because the result was not recorded on the official return sheets. The collation officer, Mrs. Dominic Anosike, a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi, had explained the results were recorded in the substituted sheet after thugs snatched the authentic result sheets and disrupted the collation process at the local government level.
After her explanation the returning officer, Muhammed Kyari rejected the result because Mrs. Dominic Anosike did not seek his approval as required by INEC’s guideline before inputting the result in another form.
In her letter to the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, dated 13th March, 2019, Mrs. Dominic Anosike said that she was ready to testify to an investigative committee set up by the electoral commission to review what happened during the collation. However, she has in her letter told the INEC chairman that she would only be available to give her testimony in Abuja as she has been “threatened with instant death” if she is found in or around Bauchi by some unnamed group of persons.
Her letter reads,“I superintended over the above election in Tafawa Balewa LGA as the Returning Officer and I believe that there will be need for your committee to find out from me what transpired at the collation centre that led to the cancellation of the result by the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Bauchi State.”
“The purpose of this letter to your good offices, is to indicate my desire to appear before the team in another location, preferably Abuja- as doing that in Bauchi State would constitute a threat to my life, as I have already been threatened with instant death, should I be found anywhere in or near Bauchi State.”
A copy of her letter is attached below.
