Professor Ishaya Tanko, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos and the INEC State Returning Officer for the just concluded gubernatorial election in Nasarawa state has been trending albeit for the wrong reason. While his counterparts in other parts of Nigeria are receiving praises for their integrity and refusal to compromise during their electoral duty, Tanko is being dragged for poorly masterminding one of the greatest electoral heist in the history of the Middle Belt which has thrown Nasarawa into chaos and mourning.
Tanko and his cronies deliberately delayed the release of results from local governments that were known to be under the government’s influence. They even stalled the collation process in wards within the state capital itself, all in an effort to manipulate the outcome of the election.
Local governments in places like Awe and Lafia, where the influence of the government reigns, were purposefully delayed, pending the release of all other results. It even trickled down to wards in the state capital – (Ciroma and Gayam) which were unable to complete collation in 2days, whilst other states concluded their elections in a day
The same Gayam and Ciroma were later ruled inconclusive due to suspicious circumstances, including the military’s abrupt withdrawal and admission that it could not guarantee the safety of the INEC officials in the region.
Additional inconsistencies include the fact that Nasarawa received 540,566 votes for the presidency and the total Governorship votes suspiciously rose to 650,357. 109,791 more people in just three weeks.
Furthermore, although the break down of votes scored by the four top candidates in the Lafia Central House of Assembly Constituency Election where Ciroma and Gayam wards were:
SDP 17, 861
PDP 17, 113
APC 16, 413
NNPP 15, 209
Total=66,596
APC and Prof Tanko Ishaya manufactured over 107,000 votes for AA Sule and allocated only 41000 to Umbugadu whereas those who voted for the Governorship election were the same number that voted for the Lafia Central Constituency. This begs the inference that some voters just came to the polls to cast their votes for the governorship and left without collecting the House of Assembly ballots.
Not unexpectedly, 91,000 of the 109,791 new voters are the result of the two local governments whose announcement INEC postponed. Isn’t that just convenient?
Due to INEC’s tardiness, there appeared to be an extraordinary population explosion in all of the wards and local governments that were called late. Suspicious?
It was also alleged that Governor Yahaya Bello, Elrufai, and Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima were sighted in Nasarawa at the time this electoral heist took place, which suggests that there was more going on in the state than what first appears to be the case.
And to crown it all up, Tanko, who had initially postponed the collation of results till 9am, suddenly reconvened at 7am when PDP members and agents have been forced to leave the center and declared AA Sule the winner.
The figures on the INEC results portal as uploaded from the various polling units contradict what Professor Tanko and his co-travellers manufactured, showing clearly that David Ombagadu is the actual winner of the election.
Now, complicating matters in the state even more, a reliable source within the PDP has confirmed that Atiku supported AA Sule of the APC over David Ombagadu, the PDP candidate for governor, because of sentiments related to religion and ethnicity, and also due to the fact that AA Sule and Atiku have a long business history together.
What makes this even more objectionable is that, should the case get to court, Ishaya Tanko’s wife is the secretary of the High Court in Abuja, which means she’ll probably have a role to play there.
Even more perplexing and disheartening is the fact that Professor Tanko, a native of Southern Kebbi, a region of the Middle Belt, will allow himself to be used as a tool in regard to the subjugation of other Middle Belt natives.
Protests have erupted in Nasarawa as women are protesting naked against what they call “their stolen mandate”
Note that, going by the pattern of voting in Nasarawa state, the Eggons happened to have constantly won the two House of Assembly stools in Lafia. In fact, they won it this time in the PDP and SDP. It is illogical to say their kinsman would lose the Gubernatorial election.
Professor Tanko has not only brought chaos to Nasarawa state but has also brought shame to the entire Middle Belt for allowing himself to be used for pecuniary motives.
