Returning Officer Missing After LG Polls In Niger
A returning officer has been declared missing days after the Local Government elections in Niger State.
The Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), Aminu Baba, announced this during a briefing with reporters on Monday at the commission’s office in Minna, the state capital.
He explained that the victim is a lecturer at one of the tertiary institutions in the state.
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Baba, however, refused to disclose the name of the returning officer and the institution where he works.
According to him, the man in question was the returning officer for Tafa Local Government Area of the state.
The SIEC boss added that the report that got to the commission was that after elections ended, the returning officer could not be found for collation.
The incident has led to the cancellation of the election in Tafa LGA.
Police authorities in the state have yet to confirm the incident.
Following the collation of results in the election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won 22 chairmanship seats while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won one seat in the 25 LGAs of the state.
Results from Mashegu and Tafa local government areas have yet to be submitted while councillorship elections in seven wards in Shiroro, Chanchaga, Bida and Rafi LGAs were cancelled.
Niger SIEC said 85 candidates contested for the position of chairman and 661 candidates contested for the position of councillor.
It noted that there were hitches in some local governments such as Agaie, Mashegu, and Chanchaga, while there were reports of delay before the commencement of poll.
