The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in Bauchi State has requested the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to relocate the collation centre for Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro federal constituency from Zwall village to Bununu town, the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa local government.
This is contained in a letter issued on Tuesday by the party’s solicitor, Barrister Gambo Idrees addressed to the Residential Commissioner of the commission in the state, noting that the collation exercise would be safer if done at the new INEC office at Bununu.
Dass/Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro is the constituency the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, represents.
In the 2019 election, the lack of INEC’s office at Bununu forced the commission to use a primary school at Zwall as a collation centre.
“As you may wish to recall, prior to the 2019 general election there was no office for the commission (INEC) at Bununu, the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa LGA and the place for the collation of the result for the constituency was a primary school at Zwall village, which is clearly unfenced, unsecured and therefore unsuitable for purpose,” the lawyer recalled.
As contained in the letter, the Returning Officer at the centre claimed to have pronounced the result under duress and some negative influence.
Barrister Idrees stressed that the commission had constructed a befitting office at Bununu and advised that it should be used as a collation centre.
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WikkiTimes recalls that some political parties from the constituency had in 2019 rejected the purported plan by INEC to relocate the constituency’s collation centre from the village. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), and New Nigeria Political Party (NNPP) were among the parties who opposed the plan.
Zwall was chosen as the collation centre in March 2015, on the federal government’s recommendations for security reasons in Tafawa Balewa.
