The threats by the Boko Haram sect to bomb Sokoto State hanged over the Sultanate yesterday as voters in the state cast their ballots in the re-run governorship election.

The possibility of the sect using the election period as a cover was said to have resulted in a total lockdown of the state with security operatives swarming it to forestall any untoward incidents.

The threats was said to have been taken very seriously as an attack on the state would amount to far-reaching embarrassment, especially as Sokoto, the seat of the sultanate, occupies  the spiritual headship of Nigerian Muslims.

Security sources told Sunday Tribune that the Sultanate Council also insists that necessary precautions should be taken so that the experience of Kano where the sect successfully carried out its threats would not be repeated in the state.

Sunday Tribune gathered that ahead of the election, the popular border town of Ilele was largely cordoned off with plain-clothes security men monitoring movements around the area.

“We practically locked down the state to prevent any attack,” a top intelligence official told Sunday Tribune.

According to him, there had been reports that the sect was creeping into the state with a plan to use the election period to wreck havoc, a threat he said was taken seriously by the security agencies.

The information was said to have necessitated the activation of a fast operation coordinated by senior officials of the service to secure the state.

While the State Security Service (SSS) was said to have placed the state under 24-hour surveillance, the police also deployed close to 10, 000 men to maintain order in the state.
The sect had vowed to attack the state, unless its men detained by security operatives were released.

As of press time, there were indications that the incumbent governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, is set for victory, in the light of results so far declared from different polling units across the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also gave a good account of itself in ensuring a hitch-free conduct of the election, having ensured that the process followed laid-down plans as the election started in most parts of the state on schedule.

There was large turn out of voters in most polling units visited in Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Kebbe, Wamakko, Shagari, Illela, Tambuwal, Gudu and Goronyo local government areas of the state.

Women constituted a large percentage of voters who turned out for the election, although they also presented the largest number of underage voters who were seen casting votes without molestation from any of the authorities saddled with the conduct of the election.

The governor, who had relocated to Wamakko, filed out with his aides for accreditation exercise at about 10.30 a.m. and had returned to the polling unit in his ward at 12.40 p.m., while his deputy, Muktar Shehu Shagari, voted at about the same time in his polling unit in Shagari village.

Speaking shortly after he cast his vote, Wamakko expressed happiness at what he termed as the impressive turn-out of people and the peaceful conduct of the election.

Though there were instances of clash among supporters of the ruling Peoples Demcoratic Party (PDP) and those of opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in some parts of the state, the election  went peacefully in most parts of the state.

Senator Umar Dahiru Tambuwal, who cast his vote at Buhari Model Primary School in Tambuwal, said the fewer number of people who turned out for registration in the morning should not be misconstrued to mean low turn out of voters for the excercise in the area.

Also speaking, candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the election, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu Yabo, lamented lateness in the commencement of the excercise in Yabo Local Government Area of the state.

He described the security arrrangement for the conduct of the excercise as very embrassing, saying there was no one policeman at the polling unit where he cast his vote.