>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Ahead of the April 15 supplementary election in Adamawa State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mallam Hudu Yunusa.
Addressing a press conference at the PDP headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, alleged that Yunusa attempted to alter the result of the March 18 governorship election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
He said the PDP has evidence against the REC, whom he claimed was in favour of the APC governorship candidate, Aisha Ahmed Binani.
Ologunagba said from the final tabulation of results from the Polling Units across Adamawa State, the party’s candidate, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, is in clear lead with 31,299 lawful votes above the APC candidate.
He also said the PDP had earlier alerted Nigerians to how the APC and some compromised INEC officials attempted to move the collation of results of the Adamawa State governorship election from Yola to Abuja to enable the INEC Returning Officer declare the APC candidate the winner; a move which he claimed was firmly resisted by the people of the state.
“When that plot failed, the APC pressured INEC to cancel results in 69 Polling Units citing overvoting but with the clandestine intention of manipulating the re-run election in favour of the APC candidate,” he said.
The PDP spokesperson noted that it has come to their knowledge that the APC and its candidate, having realised that they cannot defeat Fintiri in the 69 Polling Units, given the governor’s popularity and determination of the people, are now putting pressure on INEC to alter already collated and declared results in other Polling Units where no cases of malpractice or disruption of election took place.
“The PDP is therefore alerting the people of Adamawa of the fresh plots by the APC, its hired agents and compromised officials of INEC to alter and cancel the already declared results in 21 Local Government Areas where elections have been concluded and declared.
“This is part of APC’s plot to facilitate the manipulation and/or alteration of the already declared results in favour of the APC candidate against the expressed will of the people,” he said.
Ologunagba added that the people of Adamawa State already know the figures from the Polling Units as announced by INEC, stressing that “any attempt by the APC and INEC officials to tamper with the results already declared is a clear recipe for crisis.”