*. Some INEC staff connived with Fintiri to stuff ballot boxes, bypass BVAS machines and commit all manner of electoral frauds. Binani complained to INEC and requested them to review the whole process within the legal window of seven days. That should have been done before the rerun because the results earlier declared were not the true reflection of the vote that took place. The review was done but the results were never made public. The only thing they did was to redeploy one of the officers used to perpetrate the fraud. Certainly that was not enough. On Fufore the whole charade was glaring. A fake result was manufactured at a police station under the watchful eyes of the state government apparatus with thugs holding the Returning officer to Ransome and forcing him to announce the manufactured result amidst the chanting of PDP slogans. Moreover, INEC claimed they cancelled some results from there but removed Fufore completely from a rerun trying to legitimize the illegality that took place there. If INEC or anybody is on the side of justice, the earlier electoral fraud and all issues around it should have been properly addressed. But that was not done. The REC took every step to correct it. But he was demonized and molested constantly by the government and the PDP.
*. Before the rerun the state government and the PDP kept calling for the suspension of the state REC because all attempts to have him cover up the earlier frauds were rebuffed. So, when it came to the rerun two INEC National Commissioners came to Yola. They were supposed to be neutral and their job was strictly supervisory. They went for a Dinner at the Government House, collected huge sums of money from the government and suddenly surfaced to announce the suspension of the REC. They have no powers to do so. They took over the collation process contrary to the law. They came to observe and supervise not takeover the job of the REC. The same government that gave them money sent its own security operatives and some thugs to kidnap them and assumed one of them was the REC. They molested them and manhandled one so badly. Later one of the top officials of the state government who also directs the campaign went to apologize to the molested person shamelessly claiming that he was mistaken for the state REC. While all these were happening the Returning officer was holed up somewhere and a plan was afoot to use one of the two National Commissioners to declare the state governor without following any legal requirements. That is what created the vacuum that forced the REC to do the needful as prescribed by law.
*. The state government using security personnel attached to it went on a molestation spree arresting, torturing and forcing people to confess to crimes they never committed. They went after security personnel and INEC staff. A senior security official was beaten and forced to claim that REC collected money which was a lie. They also recruited some miscreants and organized a display of arrest claiming that these people were engaged by the REC to hack the BVAS machines. This too was a build up drama to support the proposed illegal declaration of Fintiri after all the facts have shown that he did not score majority of the lawful votes cast.
*. The REC acted in line with the provisions of sections 147 and 149 of the electoral act. A similar situation arose in Jos North LGA in Plateau State when an EO took over the collation and announcement of results. INEC upheld it. A declaration has been made. The only institution that can reverse it is the court of law or the judiciary in whatever form. INEC that ignored all the illegality that took place earlier cannot act differently on an issue that was clearly within the law.
