The Kaduna State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Forum of Governorship Candidates in the State under the auspices of Rescue and Rebuild Gubernatorial Candidates Forum, have rejected the results of the just-concluded governorship election in the State where the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Uba Sani, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
PDP, while rejecting the results according to Comrade Danjuma Sarki, who was the party’s agent at the Collation Centre, averred that the election was marred by irregularities and very contentious figures and refused to append his signature to the result sheets as collated and announced.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the declaration and announcement of the winner by the State Governorship Collation Officer, Professor Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, Comrade Sarki said, “I totally reject this result because it’s not a true reflection of the mandate of the people of Kaduna State as expressed at various polling units on 18th of March, 2023.
“Just imagine, here became like a graveyard after the announcement of the results, people are not happy unlike what we used to experience. Today is a day of mourning for the people of Kaduna State, it’s a daylight robbery, INEC in collaboration with APC have robbed the people of Kaduna their mandate.
“Our lawyers are going to sit down and look at the issues, from there we would approach appropriate court. We are calling on our supporters to remain calm, we are going to make sure that we fight for justice on their behalf,” Sarki stressed.
Similarly, at a joint press conference on Tuesday night, seven governorship candidates comprising that of Young Progressives Party (YPP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Action Alliance (AA), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Action Democratic Party (ADP), alleged that there was massive cancellation of votes in most local government areas of the State.
The chairman of the Governorship Candidates Forum, Amb. Sanin Yaya, who was the governorship candidate of YPP, said they will engage legal means to fight to logical conclusion for the right thing to be done by the INEC
“On this, we wish to refer you to the Electoral Act 2022 which states that; “Where the margin of lead between the two leading candidates is less than the total number of PVCs collected in the polling unit(s) where election was held or was cancelled in line with Sections 24 (2 & 3), 47 (3) and 51(2) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Returning Officer shall decline to make a return until polls have taken place in the affected Polling Unit(s) and the results incorporated into new form EC8D and subsequently recorded into form EC8E for declaration and return.
“Again, we wish to state clearly that in many Polling Units in all the local Governments Form EC40G were filled by Returning Officers and the number of registered voters who collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in these polling units are more than the margin of lead/win in the Governorship Election in Kaduna State.
“In a case like this, what we expect is that INEC should postpone announcement of results of governorshipselection in the state until a supplementary election is conducted in the affected polling units where elections where cancelled.
“As well, in every massive cancellation of election result conducted in many polling units during the governorship election in almost all the Local Governments in the state, especially in Kudan Local Government where the election result in two (2) Wards were not entered in the collated governorship election result for the Kudan Local Government despite the fact that election was conducted in the polling units of the two wards and the result posted on INEC result viewing portal (IRev Portal).
“Therefore, our position is that INEC has been compromised by the ruling party despite the fact that they are an umpire that is entrusted to hold a free, fair and credible election.”
The forum also called on INEC to adhere to the rule of law and to with immediate effect cancel the governorship election result declared earlier.
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