Following the conduct of the March 18, 2023 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nasarawa State, some indigenes of the state have expressed displeasure over its processes and outcome.
The indigenes, under the aegis of the Coalition of Aggrieved Support Groups for Mbugadu, during a protest in the state berated INEC for not reviewing the polls and the processes that led to the announcement of governor-elect, Abdullahi Sule.
The protest which entered the seventh day yesterday in Karu was held simultaneously even as the women and youths dressed in black attires.
The indigenes, consisting mostly women, who took to the streets to observe the protest, also faulted the outcome of the gubernatorial election, as many of the protesters were seen with placards with inscriptions: “INEC has compromised the electoral process; Restore our democracy; Save our democracy in Nasarawa State” among others.
Addressing journalists during the protest, the chairman of CASGM, Ofem Akpan Ibiang, who bemoaned the outcome of the governorship election, urged INEC to hearken to the cries of women and youths in the state.
He stressed that David Emmanuel Mbugadu who according to the chairman was the people’s choice at the election, “is the right man to lead the people,” adding that INEC’s presentation of a certificate of return to Sule was wrong and does not reflect the people’s choice.
He said, “We have started this protest for the past six days. Today we are ending it. We sought approval from the commissioner of police and the director of the Department of State Services (DSS) from Lafia and all the security agencies in Karu local government area were notified of our protests.
“That is why you will see that protests were stopped in places like Lafia, the one we are doing here has not been stopped.
“Our initial prayer before yesterday was that the INEC chairman should recall the results from Lafia and Awe local government areas and look at them critically with a view to correcting the mistakes and anomalies done by the returning officer and it was surprising to us yesterday that even though the lawyers that represent our principal has gone to INEC with a petition buttressing this fact, they still went ahead to give the APC candidate the certificate of return,” he said.
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