Following the conduct of the March 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nasarawa State, 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 Ombugadu, during a protest in the state, berated INEC for not reviewing the poll results and the processes that led to the announcement of governor-elect, Abdullahi Sule.
The protest, which entered day seven on Thursday in Karu area of the State, was held simultaneously with women and youth protesters dressed in black attires.
The indigenes, consisting majorly women, who took to the streets to observe the seven-day protest, also faulted the outcome of the gubernatorial election, as many of the protesters were seen with placards with inscriptions like “INEC has compromised the electoral process”; “Restore our democracy”; “Save our democracy in Nasarawa State”, among others.
Addressing journalists during the protest, the chairman, CASGM, Ofem Akpan Ibiang, while bemoaning the outcome of the guber election, urged INEC to hearken to the cries of women and youths in the state.
He stressed that David Emmanuel Ombugadu, who according to the chairman was the people’s choice during the election, was the right man to lead the people, adding that INEC’s move to issue a certificate of return to incumbent Governor 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 DSS from Lafia and all the security agencies in Karu Local government were notified about 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 and look at it 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.
“So, that is why we are not happy. Today, what we are demanding is that we know this is not the end of the road. The next step we are going to take is to go to the tribunal. But, our prayer is that whoever is going to be given responsibility to take charge of this tribunal for Nasarawa State should know that there are so many things that people have complained about.
“God in his infinite mercy is going to judge everybody. Our fight is for the young people. We are fighting for the youths. Nasarawa State especially Karu Local Government is a gateway for FCT. It is a metropolitan city. This place constitutes people from different tribes and different religions. So, we are saying that there are people who have done this thing, God is going to judge them.”
Also speaking, the spokesperson for the coalition, Isaach Owoicho, alleged that INEC made the wrong move by issuing the certificate of return, adding that the people of Nasarawa State must get justice.
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