LP, APC reject INEC’s verdict on guber polls in Delta, Taraba

GOVERNORSHIP candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru has rejected the declaration of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, as winner of the April 11 governorship election.

In a statement, Ogboru claimed that Okowa did not score majority of lawful votes cast in the election and did not also meet relevant constitutional provisions.

In a similar vein, the All Progressives Congress’s (APC) governorship candidate in Taraba State, Senator Aisha Alhassan, faulted the declaration by INEC that the state’s governorship election was inconclusive on the basis that the number of cancelled votes was more than the difference between her votes and that of Darius Ishaku, of the PDP.

Alhassan said the position of INEC did not reflect what really transpired in the elections “hence the need to bring to the attention of Nigerians, and indeed the global community, the true situation.”

Ogboru posited that it is the firm view of the LP that the return of Senator Okowa as governor-elect did not reflect the democratic will of the majority of the electorate.

According to him, “Okowa’s return is based on electoral irregularities and malpractices that cannot be ignored by any unbiased umpire.

He confirmed that the party is ready to approach the Election
Petition Tribunal to set aside the return of Senator Okowa as Governor-elect on the ground that he did not win the election.”

However Alhassan claimed that in many wards cutting across many local governments, the elections did not hold in accordance with INEC’s guidelines.

She said despite several reports, complaints and protests to INEC by the APC’s field officers, herself and the state party’s chairman on the irregularities while the election was ongoing and after and at collation levels, the INEC failed to react and went ahead to accept most of the flawed results.

She therefore charged INEC to set aside its position that the election was inconclusive and go ahead to cancel the results of all the areas affected after which a fresh collation should be done and a winner declared or on the alternative the result of the entire state should be cancelled and a fresh election conducted.