PDP Wins, as Violence Mars By-election in Gombe

Segun Awofadeji in Gombe

Some thugs Saturday stormed two polling units with dangerous weapons disrupting proceedings during the Dukku-North State Constituency by-election where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Hon. Saidu Kawuwa Malala, emerged winner.

THISDAY checks revealed that though the results of the two polling units, 19 and 23 where there was violence and unit 24 were cancelled in Malala ward, it however did not prevent the PDP candidate from winning the election after polling 7,060 votes to beat his closest rival from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji A Inuwa, who polled 4,024 votes from the entire six wards of the constituency.

The Collation Officer for Malala ward, Dr. Musa Dahiru, while presenting his results at the constituency collation centre at Government Secondary School (GSS), Malala, Sunday explained that thugs in two Hilux vans stormed the polling units threatening election officials to give them ballot papers thus creating chaos and disrupting the electoral procedure.

He said that one person sustained serious injuries after being stabbed with a knife just as the results were cancelled.

In unit 24 of the same ward, Musa revealed that the voting machine was faulty and as such, details of some voters did not match what was on their Permanent Voters Card (PVC’s). Following this confusion, the results from the ward showed that there was over voting in the unit and the result was also cancelled.

Details later…