Kazeem Owoseni
The Peoples Democratic Party in Nasarawa State has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission allocated votes to Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress during the March 18 governorship election in the State.
PDP in a statement issued by its Spokesperson, Alhaji Ibrahim Hamza, on Wednesday, said INEC owed the citizens of the state clarifications on how it arrived at the number of votes allocated to the incumbent governor.
Hamza recalled that the majority judgment of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal invalidated the declaration of Sule as the winner of the election by the electoral umpire, while the candidate of the PDP, David Ombugadu, was declared as the winner of the election by the court, which also directed INEC to issue him with a Certificate of Return.
However, Hamza said as a believer in democratic principles, the PDP recognised Sule’s right to appeal the majority judgment of the tribunal.
He, however, maintained that it was important for INEC to clarify the alleged discrepancy in the vote count during the election.
According to the PDP chieftain, the disparity in the vote count was also manifest in the minority judgment of the tribunal which was in favour of the governor.
Hamza added, “But in his minority judgment, Hon. Justice Ibrahim Mashi ruled that Sule scored only 295,402 votes as against the inflated votes of 347,209 freely given to him by INEC.
“The same minority judgment said Ombugadu scored 291, 603 as against the suppressed votes of 283,016 allocated to him by INEC.
“The question begging for answer is where did INEC get the 51,807 votes margin it generously allocated to Sule and returned him as the elected governor of Nasarawa State based on the ruling of the same minority judgment?”
The main opposition party however stated that the appeal filed by the governor lacked substance and hence would not stand.
INEC had in March 2023, announced Sule who was seeking a second term in office as the winner of the November 11 governorship election in the state, with 347,209 votes, while Ombugadu of the PDP got 283,016 votes, to come second in the election.
However, the PDP candidate who was not satisfied with the outcome of the election, filed a petition at the tribunal, seeking the disqualification of Sule.
However, the tribunal ruled in his favour by declaring him the winner of the election.
