Taraba: INEC distributes electoral materials ahead of federal constituency supplementary polls

By Christiana Ekpa

The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has commenced the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the supplementary election slated for Wednesday in Taraba State.
Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Supervisory Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), for the supplementary poll, confirmed the involvement of all political parties that participated in the February 3 rerun election in tomorrow’s supplementary poll.
Addressing the media at the INEC headquarters yesterday in Jalingo, Abdullahi stated that elections would be conducted in 24 polling units across three local government councils.
Fifteen out of the polling units, according to him, are in Jalingo, seven in Yorro, and two in Zing councils.
He reiterated the commission’s commitment to ensuring a free and fair supplementary election, urging political parties to adhere strictly to the electoral guidelines.
The February 3 rerun election for the Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal constituency seat was declared inconclusive by the returning officer, ProF Daniel Ayuba.
He cited the margin of lead between the PDP and SDP candidates, which was less than the number of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, collected at the affected polling units.
Ayuba disclosed that 14,795 votes, corresponding to the number of PVCs collected in the affected polling units, would be contested during the supplementary poll.
Sadiq Tafida of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, currently leads the contenders, having secured 17,214 votes in the rerun election, closely followed by Innocent Jabayang of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 15,537 votes.