The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau Central Senatorial District, Friday accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) of subverting the will of the people of the zone in last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls.
The PDP also said it has it on good authority that there were attempts to manipulate and alter the accreditation and voter information on the Smart Card Readers.
The party stated this through its chairman in the zone, Hon. Benedict Shignuhul, while addressing journalists at the party’s state secretariat in Jos.
He stated that his party won elections in four out of the five local government areas in the zone, adding that results for the four were collated and duly documented by INEC officials, while that of Kanam LGA was declared inconclusive due to irregularities.
He further explained that following the declaration, the party on Tuesday, Feb 26, met with the Malam Halilu Pai, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, who promised to resolve the matter in Pankshin LGA, the zonal headquarters.
“We acknowledged that the elections were relatively peaceful in four out of the five LGAs that made up the central Senatorial Zone, but on election day, we experienced insecurity and threat to lives of our party agents in Kanam LGA, as they were harassed, intimidated and chased away by armed thugs.
“Similarly, there was failure of smart card readers for accreditation, cases of over voting, delayed submission of results sheets from Kanam and as a such, we raised our concerns at the collation center, and there was a review of the results from Kanam where a number of electoral irregularities including irreconcilable figures, hence Prof Joseph Mangut, the returning officer declared the results from Kanam and indeed the whole result of the elections inconclusive.
“In that regard, we met with the REC in Jos and he promised that the issue will be resolved in Pankshin, but when we got back we were amazed to witness a heavy presence of security agents and to our greatest dismay, the returning officer said the meeting was not to review the result but to declare it.
“On this note, we want to tell the whole that INEC which is supposed to be an independent and neutral body is biased and have been compromised.
“We, therefore, demand that INEC stand by its declaration on the results from Kanam and we will not accept any purportedly announced result; anything short of standing by the document earlier signed by the returning officer is unacceptable, ” Shiknungul said.
The official, however, urged PDP supporters in the state to remain calm and law abiding, promising that the party would see the matter to logical conclusion using legal and civilised means.
However, efforts by DAILY POST to get INEC officials in the state to respond to the allegations proved abortive, as none of the officials were picking calls put across to them.
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