INEC Removes Doguwa’s Name from List, Says Declaration Made Under Duress

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The name of the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa,has been removed from the list of election winners by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), saying his declaration as winner was done under duress.

Doguwa was  proclaimed the winner of the Doguwa/Tudunwada constituency election on February 25 by the electoral body.

The returning officer, Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, announced that Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 39,732 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), who polled 34,798 votes.

But in the newly released list of members-elect, Doguwa’s name was missing, and in the remark session, INEC stated that the declaration was made under duress.

In a viral video of the returning officer declaring the results, the don from Bayero University, Kano could be seen reading out the results with shaky voice.

THISDAY reported that following election violence recorded in the constituency after the election, Doguwa was arrested by the police for his alleged role in the killings of several persons and burning of the secretariat of the NNPP, an allegation the lawmaker has since denied.

The police, however, confirmed that at least three persons were killed while the campaign secretariat of the NNPP in Tudunwada, was set ablaze with two persons burnt to death.

Doguwa was thereafter taken before a magistrate’s court on the charges of murder, arson and unlawful possession of firearms, and was subsequently remanded in prison.

But a Federal High Court in Kano, Monday, admitted the embattled lawmaker to N500million bail, but barred him from his constituency during the coming gubernatorial and state assembly elections.