Governorship Polls: How Nasarawa Results Ended In Protests, Despair 

The chaos in Nasarawa is tearing the state apart, and the man responsible for the mayhem is none other than Ishaya Tanko, Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos and the INEC State Collation and returning officer. Tanko’s actions have resulted in protests, tears, and despair.

Tanko’s complicity in the gubernatorial elections has had a profound impact on the psycheof the people and activities in the state. In local governments such as Awe and Lafia, where the government holds sway, results were deliberately delayed, causing great anxiety among the populace. In the state capital, wards such as Ciroma and Gayam were unable to complete collation in two days, while other states had already concluded their elections in a single day. The 2 wards are less than 3 minutes drive or about 10 minutes walk from the collation centre, yet, collated Polling Unit results could not be delivered. They were being delayed for the dirty job. However, the chaos was  compounded when the panel decided to proceed on break only for Gayam and Ciroma wards to be arbitrarily ruled inconclusive under suspicious circumstances. The police and other agencies appeared to be acting in cahoot with INEC and State Government officials.

The inconsistencies in the election results are also deeply troubling. For instance, the total summary in numbers of the governorship votes suspiciously rose from 540,566 to 650,357. Furthermore, in Lafia LGA, 154,677 votes were cast for the governorship, while only 70,000 votes were received for the House of Assembly election in the same election usungvthe same BVAS. It suggests that some voters only turned up at the polls to vote for the governorship, leaving the House of Assembly ballots uncollected?

The outcome of the election was undoubtedly influenced by Tanko’s tardiness. There appeared to be an extraordinary population explosion in all of the wards and local governments that were collated late, resulting in 109,791 new voters, with 91,000 of them coming from the two local governments whose announcement INEC had postponed. Tanko suspiciously reconvened the collation at 7am when PDP members and agents had already left the center as ordered and directed by INEC officilas, and declared AA Sule the winner.

The collusion between Tanko, Atiku, AA Sule, and other political heavyweights in the state is evident. Atiku allegedly supported AA Sule of the APC over David Ombagadu, the PDP candidate for governor, because of religious and ethnic sentiments and a long business history with AA Sule. Governor Yahaya Bello, Elrufai, and Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima, were also reportedly seen in Nasarawa at the time of the electoral heist, suggesting that there was more going on in the state than meets the eye.

The situation is worsened by the fact that Tanko’s wife is the secretary of the High Court in Abuja, and should the case go to court, she may have a role to play there. Even more disheartening is the fact that Professor Tanko, a native of Southern Kebbi, allowed himself to be used as a tool to subjugate other Middle Belt natives.

The outcome of the elections has left the people of Nasarawa in a state of despair. Women are protesting naked against what they call “their stolen mandate.” The tears and cries of these women reflect the pain and agony that the people of Nasarawa are experiencing. The electoral fraud has not only caused chaos but has also shattered the hopes and dreams of the people of Nasarawa.