The Kogi State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said the result of the state governorship election held on November 11, 2023, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, cannot stand.
This, the party explained, is because of irregularities including: falsification of results, bribery, over-voting and substantial noncompliance with electoral laws which marred the entire exercise.
Kogi State PDP Secretary, Rt. Hon. George Daika, said this at a press conference, in Abuja, on Saturday.
He said the series of unlawful acts which characterized the governorship election rendered the entire exercise “unlawful, illegal, and illegitimate.”
Daika said, “As you are aware, prior to the date scheduled for the election, we had raised several concerns about plots to rig the gubernatorial election in Kogi state where we revealed that the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, had resolved to deploy already preloaded BVAS to some areas in Kogi State.
“We also hinted that the APC led government in Kogi State had distributed NYSC and Police Uniforms to civilians in order to perpetrate their evil plans rigging the election.
“Our fears were confirmed last Saturday when before the governorship election commenced at the polling units, results of yet-to-be-held elections found their way to the public space.
“Some agents of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were also found with already written results of elections that were yet to be held.
“We, however, found it incredulous that the anomalies above notwithstanding, the State Gubernatorial Returning Officer after seeing clear evidence of over-voting and reports of electoral fraud declared Usman Ahmed Ododo of the APC as elected with some conjured votes which is totally different from the number of accredited voters among other factors.
“There were cases of overvoting in 17 out of the 21 LGAs in the state. There is clear evidence to back this up.
“We have cases where the total number of votes were more than the total number of PVCS collected, yet, INEC claimed that they conducted credible elections. We had cases where huge sums of money were seen with INEC officials at the polling units.
“A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member was seen with a cash of one million naira, which reports claimed to have been given to him by agents of the APC just for the sake of election manipulation.
“We are aware of INEC’s fraudulent means of doctoring and continuously inflating numbers just to favour APC.”
The party scribe further said, “Figures were repeatedly changed, and result sheets were falsified, and in most places, result sheets were pre-recorded before the conclusion of the voting process.
“The system of collation of result, was totally untidy and unreliable.
“The PDP rejects the results as announced and the declaration of Usman Ahmed Ododo as the winner of the governorship elections of 11th November in our dear Kogi state by NEC.
“We sincerely thank our numerous supporters and the good people of Kogi State for the support they have given us and want to assure them that the PDP will not leave any stone unturned in the quest for re-claiming their mandate.
“We have commenced actions necessary and in accordance with the law with a view to arresting this glaring broad daylight robbery against the people of Kogi state and our governorship candidate, Sen. Dino Melaye, by the APC government and its collaborators.
“We have rejected the result as declared by INEC, and as a party, we would take all measures, within the ambit of the law, to reclaim the mandate of the people of Kogi State.”
