From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A coalition of governorship candidates in Kaduna State, known as the Rescue and Rebuild Gubernatorial Candidates Forum, has rejected the results of the recently held governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Uba Sani, as the winner.
At a joint press conference on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Forum, Ambassador Sanin Yaya, who is also the Young Progressives Party (YPP) governorship candidate, along with six other candidates from 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 that there were massive vote cancellations in most local government areas.
The candidates cited 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 the 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.”
The candidates claimed that in many polling units, the number of registered voters who collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) was more than the margin of victory for the APC candidate. They also alleged that in Kudan Local Government, where the election result in two wards was not included in the collated result despite the fact that the election was conducted in the polling units, INEC had been compromised by the ruling party.
The coalition of candidates has called on INEC to adhere to the rule of law and cancel the governorship result declared earlier. They also threatened to engage in legal means to fight for their rights.