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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha and Mohammed Munirat Nasir, Gusau
Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday, alleged that the South East was tactically disenfranchised in last Saturday’s election.
In his reaction to the result of the presidential election in Anambra State, Obi said many people who came out to vote were denied voting because of card readers’ malfunctioning.
He said: “I’m sure all of you have seen the clear articulated and planned disenfranchisement of the South East. The card readers meant for Anambra were all burnt without any arrest but they told us that they replaced them and every was okay.
“On election day, we saw that most of the card readers did not function or were very slow.
“And, where the card reader worked, not every voter that came out voted cause of time frame they gave and, in most populated density areas like Awada, Obosi, Ogidi and other places in Idemili, they were denied voting.
“In a place where 2.4 million registered, only 600 people voted while in some places, in Nigeria, some people voted without card readers and even those who voted here without card readers, their votes were disqualified. About 80 polling units, where card readers were not used, was removed from the system.
“The result as was announced by INEC showed that PDP scored 524,738 while APC got 33, 298 showing what is called a reflection of what should have been all over the South East. I can only use Anambra as a case in point to form my judgement.
“I could see where there is less than 1.5 million registered voters having nearly a million people voted and where we have 2.4 million registered voters we couldn’t even achieve 700 and the reason is obvious because we were given a different set of condition and other areas were given different condition, it shouldn’t be.
“People have fought hard for this democracy and I think everything done in Nigeria is on the reverse. Whatever I’m saying here is my personal opinion. I believe that all of us should be thinking about what hope are we giving to the younger ones, what hope are we giving to Nigerians?”
Meanwhile, President Muhammad Buhari won the presidential election in Zamfara State with 438,682 votes, defeating Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who scored 125,423 votes.
The Returning Officer, Professor Kabir Bala, of the Ahmadu Bello (ABU) Zaria, announced the result, yesterday.
APC also won two, of the three senatorial seats and five House of Representatives seats so far declared.
Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar was on Monday declared winner of Zamfara West senatorial district election. He will replace the incumbent, Ahmad Sani Yarima, who has served three terms.
