The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is accused by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of giving votes to Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18 gubernatorial election in Nasarawa State.
The PDP spokesperson in Nasarawa, Alhaji Ibrahim Hamza, stated in a statement that INEC owed the state’s residents an explanation of how it determined the governor’s winning vote total.
In the remark, Hamza reminded the audience that Sule’s INEC declaration as the election’s winner was declared unconstitutional by the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s majority ruling.
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Additionally, the tribunal ruled that David Ombugadu, the PDP candidate, had won the poll and ordered INEC to provide him a Certificate of Return.
According to Hamza, the PDP acknowledged Sule’s right to challenge the majority ruling of the tribunal since it upholds democratic values.
But he emphasized that INEC had to provide an explanation for the purported disparity in the vote total during the election.
He said that the minority ruling of the tribunal, which supported the governor, also demonstrated the disparity in the vote total.
Recall that INEC declared in March 2023 that Sule had received 347,209 votes to win the governorship. Ombugadu, the PDP candidate, received 283,016 votes, according to INEC.
“However, in his minority judgment, Hon. Justice Ibrahim Mashi ruled that Sule scored only 295,402 votes as opposed to the inflated votes of 347,209 freely given to him by INEC,” the statement from Hamza said.
According to the same minority ruling, Ombugadu received 291, 603 votes as opposed to the 283,016 suppressed votes that INEC had given him.
“Where did INEC obtain the 51,807 vote margin it so kindly awarded to AA Sule and returned him as the elected governor of Nasarawa State based on the decision of the same minority judgment?” is the issue that begs to be answered.
The PDP went on to say that the governor’s appeal lacked substance and would thus be dismissed.
