Electoral body sets date for Bauchi South Senatorial by-electiion

The Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) has fixed August 11 for by-election to fill the vacant seat of Bauchi South Senatorial District at the National Assembly.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, who stated this on Thursday during a stakeholders meeting, said only those who voted in the 2015 general elections and had collected their PVCs as at December 2017, were eligible to vote during the by- election.

“Accreditation and voting during the election will be done simultaneously as voters will be accredited and allowed to cast their votes immediately.

“I want to appealed to Political parties to join hands with the Commission, to ensure a hitch-free election; INEC will be fair to all,” he said.

According to him, the elections will be held in 445 voting points under 1, 499 Polling Units in all the 75 wards in seven Local Government Areas of Bauchi South Senatorial District, comprising Toro, Dass, Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro, Alkaleri and Kirfi and Bauchi Local Government areas.

Abdullahi said all registered political parties are allowed to participate, and that the results will be transmitted electronically, while a copy will be pasted at each polling unit.

He also announced that over 70, 000 Permanent Voter Cards were still in possession of the commission were yet to be collected by their owners.

He therefore appealed to the voters and politicians to ensure that such cards were collected.

He told politicians and leaders of political parties not to be deceived by the crowd that grace their openly rallies during campaigns, adding that “some of them do not even have PVCs, while others will forget to pick theirs before election.”

The meeting was attended by newsmen, security agents and representatives of political parties in the state,among others.

The Bauchi South Senatorial seat became vacant following the death of Sen. Ali Wakili on March 17, 2018.