Jigawa By-election: I Didn’t Lose Polling Unit, Minister Declares

Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru Abubakar has debunked rumours the he lost his polling unit to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) during the by-election into Garki/Babura federal constituency of Jigawa State.

Badaru Abubakar, a former governor of the state and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) insisted that his party defeated the PDP and other parties at his polling unit.

The APC candidate, Mukhtar Rabi’u Garki, was declared the winner of the by-election with 38,449 votes against the PDP candidate, Isa Auwalu, who scored 13,519 votes.

According to his media aide, Mati Ali, the minister voted at his polling unit 002 at Babura Kofar Arewa Primary School where the APC polled 188 votes while the PDP got 164 votes.

He said this was contrary to the earlier result which reportedly shown that the APC lost polling unit 001 located in the same primary school which was wrongly tagged as the result of polling unit 002 where the minister voted.

The Minister of Defence as well as the Minister of State For Education, Suwaiba Ahmad who is also from Jigawa state voted in the election.

“Our attention has been drawn to the circulation of an election result from Babura Kofar Arewa Polling Unit 001, mischievously attributed to the Honourable Minister of Defence, His Excellency Mohammed Badaru Abubakar.

“We wish to categorically state that the report is nothing but the handiwork of mischief makers seeking to distort facts and tarnish the good image of the Honourable Minister.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Honourable Minister’s actual polling unit is Babura Kofar Arewa Primary School Polling Unit 002, where His Excellency personally cast his vote,” Badaru-Abubakar’s spokesperson said.