In some states, defeated governorship candidates and their parties have rejected the results of Saturday’s elections, with some threatening legal action.
While some stated that they would challenge the results in court, others requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) review the results.
Following the completion of collation at the collation centers, INEC declared the winners of the elections in the states on Monday.
Discordant music
In Kano, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has given INEC a seven-day deadline to review the results declaration.
According to the Daily Trust, Kano’s returning officer, Professor Ahmad Doko Ibrahim, declared Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) the election winner on Monday.
During a world press conference on Tuesday, the party’s legal adviser for the state chapter, Abdul Fagge, said the INEC returning officer erred in law and acted outside the bounds of the Electoral Act by distinguishing between cancellations due to violence and over-voting and deciding only to consider the latter in the final calculation of the margin of lead.
According to Fagge, 273,442 PVCs were collected in areas where elections were cancelled due to violence and over-voting, implying that the margin of victory (128,897) used to declare Yusuf of the NNPP was insufficient under the Electoral Act.
He found it astonishing that 16 House of Assembly elections held on the same day and under the same conditions were declared inconclusive by INEC.
Alhassan Ado Doguwa, the Leader of the House of Representatives, said INEC deviated completely from the conditions it used to declare his own federal constituency’s election results inconclusive.
Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, the APC’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, urged party supporters to remain calm in the face of adversity while condoling with the families of those who died and those who lost property as a result of the election and post-election violence.
Mohammed Mustapha, the NNPP candidate in Borno, said he would challenge the election because his party’s name and logo were missing from the ballot paper.
Similarly, the APC in Bauchi State rejected the governorship election results, saying, “We consider the figures that were released to be totally unacceptable.”
According to the Daily Trust, INEC declared PDP gubernatorial candidate and incumbent governor Bala Mohammed the winner.
According to the returning officer, Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Muhammed, the PDP candidate, Bala Mohammed, received 525,280 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, who received 433,272 votes.
However, speaking to journalists in Bauchi yesterday, APC gubernatorial candidate Air Marshal Sadaque Baba Abubakar said the election was marked by primitive violence, thuggery, intimidation and harassment of opponents, and the expulsion of APC agents from many polling units across the state.
“To say the least, it is very unfortunate that, in addition to the intimidation and harassment of APC members and agents from polling units and collation centers, we also saw the use of primitive violence in at least seven LGAs,” Abubakar said. There was violence and the destruction of election materials in Warji LGA. The video is available for public viewing. APC members were harassed, intimidated, and attacked, preventing many of our members from voting.”
“As a result, what came from Warji was not a true reflection of what the people of Warji desired because figures were invented, papers were written, and that is what was submitted, and sadly, this submission was accepted,” Abubakar explained.
He did, however, urge his supporters to remain calm and not take the law into their own hands, instead allowing party officials to consult with other stakeholders to determine the next course of action.
In Taraba State, the NNPP candidate, Sani Muhammed Yahaya, rejected the INEC governorship election results, while the APC candidate, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, congratulated PDP winner Agbu Kefas.
Yahaya stated at a press conference in Jalingo that the results were not what had been recorded in the field. He claimed he won the election, but the outcome was tainted.
The NNPP candidate urged his supporters to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands, as he had already begun the legal process to challenge the INEC results.
At a press conference in Delta State, the APC and its governorship candidate, Senator James Omo-Agege, and the Young Progressive Party (YPP) presidential candidate, Sunny Ofehe, both rejected the results of the state’s governorship election.
However, both the APGA’s Great Ovedje Ogboru and the NNPP’s Goodnews Agbi congratulated the governor-elect, Sheriff Oborevwori.
A petition signed by Godwin Anaughe, the APC Governorship Campaign Council’s director of election and strategy, accused the returning officer of collating the results in violation of the Electoral Act 2022.
He stated that the party was contesting the results of 20 local government areas.
He claims that nine local government areas in Delta north, seven in Delta south, and four in Delta Central Senatorial Districts are being contested.
Comrade Sunny Ofehe, the YPP candidate, described the election as a mere selection where huge fraud was sadly perpetrated, saying his party had substantial evidence to expose the massive fraud that took place across polling units and wards in each of the state’s 25 local government councils.
Nentawe Yilwatda, the APC’s governorship candidate in Plateau, has rejected the election results.
Yilwatda revealed this to party supporters in Jos on Monday evening, alleging that the election was rigged in some areas, which he believed could be overturned by the court.
“We voted with integrity. We didn’t set up anywhere. They gave us a difference of over 100,000 votes in two LGAs. We were well aware that it was rigged. We reported law voter turnout, but votes increased by more than 30%. How can low voter turnout be transformed into high voter turnout? We will obtain our mandate. “I am at ease and strong,” Yilwatda stated.
He did, however, urge his supporters to stay strong and never insult anyone.
In Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party declared that he had won the election and promised to go to court to challenge Governor Babajide Sanwo-declaration Olu’s as the winner.
In Akwa Ibom State, the YPP said it would challenge the results of the governorship election, which was won by the PDP’s Pastor Umo Eno.
The rejection was based on rigging and violence, which resulted in the deaths of party supporters and the destruction of materials, according to the party’s secretary, Kelvin Umoh.
Lado Danmarke of the PDP in Katsina rejected the result and condemned the declaration, saying the party would reclaim its mandate legally.
In Jigawa, Mustapha Sule Lamido of the (PDP) said he would consult with party elders before making a decision.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Asake, the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Kaduna State, said in a statement that he was conducting consultations and reviewing the entire process and would soon make his position known to the public.
He urged his followers to remain calm.
In the same vein, the PDP in Kaduna State rejected the APC’s declaration of Uba Sani as the winner of the governorship election.
The state PDP chairman, Felix Hassan Hyet, described the outcome as “daylight robbery,” accusing INEC of being complicit in denying the people of the state what they actually voted for.
Obi rejects Abia and Enugu delays
The Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has expressed displeasure with the continued delay in the release of governorship results in Abia and Enugu states.
Obi also charged the commission to act quickly in a statement issued on Tuesday.
According to the Daily Trust, INEC suspended the collation of results in both states on Monday due to pockets of violence and the invasion of one of its offices in Abia State.
Further delay, according to Obi, will call into question the commission’s intent and the credibility of the election, even as he urged the commission to expedite their review and assuage the fears of Nigerians, particularly those in the two states.
“It is disheartening that the commission is unable to resolve whatever issues are preventing the results from being released.” “If the electoral officials are committed to the integrity of the exercise and the stipulated guidelines, the records of elections from polling units should not be difficult to calculate,” Obi said.
Politicians must be prepared to defend their positions – Lawyers
According to Abdulhamid Mohammed (SAN), politicians who go to court after an election must understand the unique nature of such cases as well as the technicality of proving the case.
“Land matters, unlike matrimonial matters, are sui generis, that is both criminal and civil, and as such, the burden of proof is always high,” he explained.
In addition, Nnamdi Ahaiwe, a lawyer, blamed lawsuits on the inability to hold free, fair, and credible elections in which the loser is convinced they lost and feels cheated.
“It’s simply because we haven’t gotten it right,” he explained.
(TNT)
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