Bauchi: PDP Councillor beaten to death

vanguardngr.com

In Bauchi State, the chairperson of Bogoro Local Government Area, Hassana Arkila, confirmed the death of  the PDP councilor for Gizaki/Badagari Ward, Mr Musa Daniel, saying he was beaten to death by angry youths while on electoral duty.

Arkila described  the attack on the councilor as unfortunate and linked the incident to saboteurs of democracy. She said :” I want to confirm the death of a PDP councilor who was beaten to death by irate youths. l am assuring the people of the state  that the full wrath of law will catch up with the attackers”.

The chairperson appealed to the perpetrators of the dastardly act to sheath their sword and embrace peace, saying violence is not  the  solution to political differences. “The death of the councillor is a signal that the APC is afraid of losing the electoral process. I ask  for calm among PDP supporters”, she added.

Meanwhile, voting commenced in some polling units in the state as early as 9.00 am but there was low turn out of voters. Some of polling units where voting commenced early are El-duniya, Daníyae and Lido Hotel polling units.

The Presiding Officer at El-duniya polling unit, Abba John, said  they combined accreditation and voting because of the few numbers of voters. He said: “We had fewer numbers of voters unlike the presidential election when we had large turn out. The electorate and parties agents agreed that voting should commence so that we don’t stay idle”.

When asked if their action was right, John said: “Though it’s wrong, INEC told us to give the voters what they want; that is why we agreed to do it”. The APC and PDP agents at the polling unit, Kingsley Oyenka  and Musa Liman, respectively, said they agreed on the early commencement of  voting.

As at 10.30 am, 67 people had voted at El-duniya while 37 had cast their votes at Lido. Meanwhile, the card reader rejected the thumbprint of  Governor Mallam Isa Yuguda  at Baba Sidi Primary School, Bauchi  where he had gone for accreditation for yesterday’s polls.

It was a replay of the situation during the presidential and National Assembly elections two weeks ago when the card reader  failed to accredit  him. Speaking with journalists after accreditation, yesterday, the governor said, “So far, so bad,  the card has rejected my thumb print  again. My thumb print  was rejected during presidential and National Assembly elections;  the samething happened today again”.

Yuguda  commended voters for their orderly conduct at polling units. On the low turn out of voters, Yuguda said” some of the electorates believed in the Presidential election so may be that was the reason for the low turn out but I want to urge them to come out and exercise their franchise.

The APC gubernatorial candidate in the polls, Mohammed Abubakar, while speaking with journalist, at Guru Galadima polling unit after accreditation,  commended the turn out and orderliness of the voters.