Gov Wada: to challenge Bello’s election

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said it would challenge the outcome of the governorship election in Kogi before the election petition tribunal.

The Publicity Secretary of the party in Kogi, Mr Bode Ogunmola, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.

Ogunmola said the results of the election was unacceptable to the party and cannot stand the test of time.

He said the death of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu on Nov. 22, while collation was ongoing had made it inevitable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare PDP candidate, Idris Wada, winner of the poll.

Ogunmola said PDP had rejected the declaration of Yahaya Bello as winner of the exercise, saying that the party would challenge the results before the tribunal.

He commended people of the state for their support to the party before and during the poll, urging them to continue to be law abiding.

The Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation  also gave hints of its readiness to return to court to challenge INEC’s declaration of Bello as the winner of the poll.

The AFCAO  described the supplementary election that produced Bello as Governor-elect as “unnecessary and a complete waste of tax payers’ money’’.

The group’s stand is contained in a statement signed and issued by its Director of Media, Mr Duro Meseko, in Lokoja on Sunday.

It said that the final results of the election declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had vindicated its earlier position that the Audu/Faleke ticket had won the Nov. 21 governorship election and should have been declared as such.

“ In the Supplementary election final results declared by INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 6885 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 5363 votes.

“Making it a total of 12, 248 votes, a far cry from the 49, 353 registered voters that INEC claimed to have based its decision on to declare the election inconclusive.

“ It is now crystal clear to everybody that the Kogi governorship election of Nov. 21 was already won and lost before the strange supplementary election was introduced, “ the statement said.

The group urged both its supporters and members to remain calm and steadfast as steps had been initiated to enable the law takes its rightful course.