By ABUBAKAR YUSUF.
Amidst the present crisis of confidence in the INEC in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections and the heightened tension that has greeted the less than impressive performance of the electoral umpire in the declaration of results,the PDP in the state hereby condemn the shabby elections which was marred by widespread violence and result manipulation in the state.
The State Chairman of the PDP, Engr Sam Uhuotu who described the election as a charade calls for its outright rejection by the populace as it does not reflect the wishes of the people to elect candidates of their choice in a free,fair and transparent election.
The party leadership condemns in no unmistakable terms the non transmission of results from the polling units to the INEC Server/Portal,a statutory obligation of INEC that was a selling point of the BVAS Machine as espoused in the new Electoral Reforms 2022 by INEC and which had elicited the confidence of the electorate in the process but which has turned out to be a compromise.It is therefore condemnable the deviation from the BVAS selling point to the resorting to the use of manual transmission of results which has exposed the process to widespread manipulation and compromise.
The PDP further condemns the violence that characterised the process which witnessed the snatching and mutilation of election materials and allocation of fictitious results across the three Senatorial Districts of the State in violation of the electoral procedure derivable from the Electoral Act.
It is indeed preposterous that the electoral umpire allowed anti-democratic forces in cahoot with the security operatives to undermine the process of electing popular candidates for the available positions.The non availability of law enforcement agents in the vicinity of most of the election centres is seen as a collaborative effort of the APC ruling party with the INEC to unleash mayhem on the unsuspecting PDP supporters who are in the majority.The APC hoodlums were allowed to brazenly brandish their arsenals to scare away the electorate at voting centres across the state while destroying and snatching election materials thereby disenfranchising the vulnerable PDP supporters.
The State Chairman of the PDP, Engr Sam Uhuotu express dismay at the seeming compromise of the INEC in the rules governing the process which informs the cancellation of the results of some polling units in the areas where the PDP had made strong showing in the three Senatorial Districts of the State.
In view of the shenanigans that characterised the elections in the state and flagrant disregard of the processes of computing results of the elections,and which impugns the integrity of the electoral umpire, the PDP hereby condemn the election results declared by INEC for Kogi State as it does not reflect the true wishes of the electorate who has sacrificed time and resources to participate in popular suffrage to elect candidate of their choice.
Signed
Bar.Alfred Bello
Media/Publicity Directorate,PDP
Kogi State.
