LG polls: Nasarawa Assembly speaker denies snatching ballot boxes

The Speaker of Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi, has denied a report making the round that he snatched ballot boxes during the chairmanship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Toto Local Government Area of the state.

Abdullahi stated this while briefing journalists yesterday in Lafia over the allegation that he snatched ballot boxes to favour the Interim Management Committee chairman of Toto, Nuhu Dauda. He described the allegation as not only false but unfounded and baseless, saying it was created by his enemies who were all out to destroy his political career.

According to him, “Some party supporters attempted to disrupt the election when they discovered that Nuhu Dauda who was one of the chairmanship aspirants was leading.”

“The election was going on smoothly before some people went and mobilized their thugs to disrupt the process. It was unfortunate and a threat to our electoral process. As a senior citizen of Nasarawa State, how will I snatch ballot box meant for election where there was adequate security on ground?” he asked.

It was reported that problem started when the primary election presiding officer from the state’s party headquarters made an announcement at the end of the event around 3pm, on Monday, that votes counting and results announcement would be made in Lafia instead of the venue of the event which was Toto local council secretariat.

Election agents of two of the three contestants disagreed with the idea, but the speaker, who was said to be backing Adamu Nuhu, allegedly had his way with the ballot box under the watch of armed security men.