The result of the Bauchi State Local Government elections has shown that there is no hope for any political party other than PDP as the opposition. The results were declared by Ahmed Makama, the Chairman Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission (BASIEC), on Saturday.
Apart from the chairmanship wins, Makama added that thounsands results for the councillorship positions were declared at ward levels and some opposition parties also won. Certificates of return for the winners are due to be issued today by the commission.
The election is popularly characterized as the first to be conducted truly independently since a recent Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi has rejected the election results. Muhammad Hassan, the state APC chairman, described the election as a "murder of democracy," citing various alleged irregularities. These include inadequate election materials, withheld sensitive materials and result sheets, votes being allocated to the PDP, and incidents of ballot box snatching and massive thumb printing of ballot papers for PDP candidates. The APC also claimed that there were instances where returning officers were absent, and election materials were abandoned at polling units.
Despite these allegations, BASIEC maintained that the election was free and fair.
