APC demands “total cancellation” of Anambra governorship election
The PDP said it was satisfied the poll held without disturbance.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has rejected the outcome of the Anambra governorship election and has demanded a total cancellation of the poll to give way for a rerun.
The party made its position known late Sunday after its candidate for the election, Chris Ngige, had earlier rejected the outcome of the poll. Mr Ngige said the election was a mockery of democracyamid widespread reports of shortage of materials, lateness of officials, ballot stuffing and other violations.
Earlier, the APC withdrew from a rescheduled vote in selected local governments worst hit by irregularities on Saturday. It adopted a more stringent stance urging the cancellation of the entire election.
In a statement by its publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the election was based on the massive disenfranchisement of people across the state, caused by the “blatant incompetent and/or deliberate sabotage by the electoral commission itself”.
The statement superseded the party’s initial call for a rerun in four local government areas, Mr Mohammed said.
The party accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of using a voters’ register totally different from what it gave to political parties ahead of the election, resulting in extensive omission of names of qualified voters.
The chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, has said the commission bears no responsibility for those who failed to ensure their names appeared on the register ahead of the poll. “People did not utilize the opportunity to verify their registration as announced by INEC,” he said in an interview Sunday.
In its statement, APC said beyond the missing names, delivery of materials to the strongholds of its candidate, Mr. Ngige, was either done very late or not at all, a development it claimed robbed the party of over 300,000 votes.
”After consultations with our agents as well as with local and foreign observers, we have discovered that what we earlier complained about was a child’s play, compared to the widespread disenfranchisement that was orchestrated by the same body given the responsibility of ensuring a free, fair and creditable election on Saturday,” the party said.
”We discovered that INEC has set up a multi-layer arrangement to ensure that most voters in the state were disenfranchised, apparently acting out a script to manipulate the result of the election in favour of a certain candidate. Where voting materials were supplied, the commission provided wrong voters’ register.
The party said the election was a “new low” for INEC.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said it was satisfied the election was conducted without disturbances.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has rejected the outcome of the Anambra governorship election and has demanded a total cancellation of the poll to give way for a rerun.
The party made its position known late Sunday after its candidate for the election, Chris Ngige, had earlier rejected the outcome of the poll. Mr Ngige said the election was a mockery of democracyamid widespread reports of shortage of materials, lateness of officials, ballot stuffing and other violations.
Earlier, the APC withdrew from a rescheduled vote in selected local governments worst hit by irregularities on Saturday. It adopted a more stringent stance urging the cancellation of the entire election.
In a statement by its publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the election was based on the massive disenfranchisement of people across the state, caused by the “blatant incompetent and/or deliberate sabotage by the electoral commission itself”.
The statement superseded the party’s initial call for a rerun in four local government areas, Mr Mohammed said.
The party accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of using a voters’ register totally different from what it gave to political parties ahead of the election, resulting in extensive omission of names of qualified voters.
The chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, has said the commission bears no responsibility for those who failed to ensure their names appeared on the register ahead of the poll. “People did not utilize the opportunity to verify their registration as announced by INEC,” he said in an interview Sunday.
In its statement, APC said beyond the missing names, delivery of materials to the strongholds of its candidate, Mr. Ngige, was either done very late or not at all, a development it claimed robbed the party of over 300,000 votes.
”After consultations with our agents as well as with local and foreign observers, we have discovered that what we earlier complained about was a child’s play, compared to the widespread disenfranchisement that was orchestrated by the same body given the responsibility of ensuring a free, fair and creditable election on Saturday,” the party said.
”We discovered that INEC has set up a multi-layer arrangement to ensure that most voters in the state were disenfranchised, apparently acting out a script to manipulate the result of the election in favour of a certain candidate. Where voting materials were supplied, the commission provided wrong voters’ register.
The party said the election was a “new low” for INEC.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said it was satisfied the election was conducted without disturbances.
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