By Owei Lakemfa
I woke up at the weekend to a letter by
Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai of the Bayero University, Kano. He had on March
25, 2023 performed a civic duty as the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, Returning Officer for the Tudun Wada/Doguwa House of
Representative elections.
He had announced with his professorial
authority that Ado Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress, APC, polled 39,732
votes to defeat his closest rival, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi, of the New Nigeria
People’s Party, NNPP, who polled 34,798 votes. Now, in his letter, he makes a
different declaration: that the previous verdict he declared was false, but
that he had to do so because his life and those of other electoral staff were
endangered. He said the collation area was under siege and he was “completely
traumatised, hopeless and confused”.