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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Seven candidates in Kaduna State, under the auspices of Rescue and Rebuild Gubernatorial Candidates Forum, have rejected the results of the governorship election won by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uba Sani.
In a joint press conference, the candidates, comprising Young Progressives Party (YPP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Action Alliance (AA), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Action Democratic Party (ADP), alleged there was massive cancellation of votes in most local government areas.
Chairman of the Forum, Sanin Yaya of the YPP, said they would engage legal means to fight to logical conclusion for the right thing to be done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We wish to address you all and other loyal voters in the state on the purported election result declared by INEC which is unacceptable to us and many as well.
“We call on INEC to do the needful on the purported result announced which declared the APC candidate as winner in the just concluded election.
“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 in these polling units are more than the margin of lead/win in the governorship elections in Kaduna State.
“In a case like this, what we expect is that INEC should postpone announcement of results of governorship election 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 results in two wards were not entered in the collated governorship election result 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.”
