Dr. Oliver Agundu, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Plateau State, disclosed this decision during a press briefing held in Jos.

Dr. Agundu clarified that the need for fresh polls arose due to reported ballot paper shortages experienced in some polling units during the Saturday re-run elections.

The REC affirmed that the commission had initiated an investigation to determine the cause of the ballot paper shortages in the affected polling units.

Regarding the shortage of ballot papers for the Federal House of Representatives seat, Dr. Agundu stated, “In respect of the reports that were coming in from some poling units that there were shortages of ballot papers in respect of the Federal House of Representatives seat, we did a holistic appraisal of the situation and we have received a comprehensive report on all the poling units and they summed up to 18 of them in total.

“15 are in Tudun-Wada/Kabong Ward, and three are in Naraguta B ward all in Jos North LGA. So, we have decided that we cannot even take it for granted that this is a negligible number compared to over 900 polling units where the elections took place.

“We have decided to meet with leaders of politics and the media by 8pm today (Saturday) at the state INEC headquarters in Jos because election is a stake-holding exercise. So, we will brief other stakeholders and then inform them of our next plan of action but we are thinking that we will not take for granted that this is an insignificant number.

“We will see the possibility of also giving them the opportunity to also cast their votes tomorrow (Sunday), but we will make a final position on that when we meet by 8pm. That is the situation and we want the public to know that we take their concerns seriously. We are also doing a very thorough investigation on what has happened on these polling units.”