The Niger State Independent Electoral Commission on Saturday cancelled the results of the local government chairmen and councillors in Kontagora over security lapses in the area.?A staff of the commission ?in charge of information, Alhaji Mahmood Mohammed, told newsmen in Minna, that the commission decided to cancel the election following reports of violence in Kontagora town.
?
According to him, the commission took the decision to safeguard the lives of personnel deployed for the election and its property ?in the area, but did not give the new date for the elections.?On the issue of delay in supply of vital election materials to some of the polling units across the state, he said the commission was yet to receive such complaints.
?
Meanwhile, ?former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd.), who was accredited to vote at theHilltop voting centre, Minna, urged eligible voters to “come out en masse and vote for the candidates of their choice in the election”.
He said it was the duty of all citizens and residents in the state to exercise their civic rights towards enthroning democracy at the grassroots.
?
?Also speaking, the state chairman of ?the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Shuaibu Umar, told newsmen that the party was not happy with the way and manner the election was conducted.?He accused the commission of using party agents as polling officers, as well as the insufficiency of materials provided for the election.
?
Umar said that he had complained to the electoral body over the lapses noticed in some of the local government areas and threatened to sue the commission if it failed to rectify the lapses.?The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election was greeted with apathy by voters throughout the state.
?
In another development, one person (names withheld) was killed during a violent clash between supporters of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kontagora and Rijau areas of Niger North Senatorial, district during the local government election in Niger State yesterday.
?
It was ?gathered that the incident occured when the gun of a policeman who was trying to separate the warring groups, who were protesting what they considered to be anomalies in the election held in Kontagora.
The incident caused a lot of tension in the area, as the people attacked some political appointees who they alleged were hatching a plan to distort the election.
The deputy commissioner of police in charge of the election in the area, DCP Mohammed Sule, confirmed that the death of the man was as a result of accidental discharge.
?