By Nkechi Eze
The Office of the Honourable Minister of Defence, H.E. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, CON, mni, has dismissed as false and misleading the reports circulating online alleging that the Minister lost his polling unit during the Garki/Babura Federal Constituency by-election. In a statement issued by the Minister’s Personal Assistant on Media & Publicity, Mati Ali, the Ministry clarified that the Honourable Minister voted at his official polling unit Babura Kofar Arewa Primary School, Polling Unit 002, where the All Progressives Congress secured victory.
According to the statement, the Minister personally cast his vote at Polling Unit 002, and the official result as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and announced by the Returning Officer shows that the APC won the polling unit with a total of 188 votes while the Peoples Democratic Party polled 164 votes. The Office emphasised that these are the authentic and only valid results for the polling unit and that the reports claiming otherwise are entirely incorrect.
It described the false online reports which misidentified the polling unit as PU 001 and claimed that the Minister lost as “inaccurate” and “misleading.” The Office therefore called on members of the public, party supporters and the media to disregard the spurious claims and rely solely on INEC’s official declarations. It added that the Minister remains committed to transparent democratic processes and appreciates the continued support of his constituents.
