Nigeria, Aug. 18 -- The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar, has dismissed as false, reports circulating on social media that he lost his polling unit to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during Saturday's by-election for Garki/Babura Federal Constituency of Jigawa State.

In a statement issued by his media aide, Mati Ali, on Sunday, Mr Abubakar, the immediate past governor of the state, clarified that his polling unit, Babura Kofar Arewa Primary School Polling Unit 002, was wrongly linked to results from Polling Unit 001 located in the same school.

The statement read, "Our attention has been drawn to the circulation of an election result from Babura Kofar Arewa Polling Unit 001, mischievously attributed to the Honourable ...