It was not
completely unexpected, but the flurry of rejections and protests that
have trailed the national elections must have taken officials of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) aback. Despite the
near-universal acclaim of the organisation of the elections and their
claim to fairness, hundreds of politicians who lost have faulted the
polls. Some of them appear headed for the election petition tribunals.
The biggest of all,
the presidential election, is itself embroiled in dispute following the
refusal of the two main opposition candidates, Nuhu Ribadu of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), to endorse the final result. The same scenario
played itself out in a couple of states, including Kwara where the ACN
and the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACNP) both refused to sign the
certificate of return for the state governorship election; and in Akwa
Ibom where the ACN, again, is still crying foul.
In Cross Rivers,
petitions from aggrieved candidates are pouring into the INEC office in
Calabar, alleging fraud in elections conducted in the state and calling
for the outright cancellation of some.
Some of the
petitioners are Eyo Etim Nyong, Joseph Etene and Cletus Obun (all of the
ACN) and Victor Okon of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), among
many others. They have vowed to take the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
to the election tribunal once it is constituted.
The opposition
alleged that last Tuesday’s house of assembly election in the state and
the rescheduled senatorial election were characterised by rigging and
the outright purchase of votes. They claimed that in Odukpani, Calabar
Municipality and Calabar South local government areas, officials and
agents of the PDP were on standby to buy ballot boxes from election
officials and take such boxes away for thumb-printing and subsequent
return to the polling units.
An official of the
Labour Party and its candidate for the house of assembly election in the
area, Victor Etim, claimed that the election in Odukpani was fraught
with irregularities.
“What was announced
as final result by INEC is not what transpired on the field. They are
different results altogether. The figures released by the electoral body
are higher than those recorded in the various polling units and
collation centres,” he said.
Meanwhile, the last
has not been heard on the controversial Anambra Central senatorial race
between former information minister, Dora Akunyili, and a former
governor of the state, Chris Ngige. INEC declared Mr Ngige winner of the
election following a rerun of the poll in some wards in the district.
But Mrs Akunyili is not convinced of her loss.
“The Independent
National Electoral Commission set out to conduct credible elections, but
desperate politicians such as Chris Ngige of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) were determined not to see that happen. Ngige has once
more done what he knows best, which is stealing the vote,” said Mrs
Akunyili, who flew the flag of the All Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA) in the controversial polls.
The politician said
that in view of the circumstances under which her opponent was declared
winner, with 69,725 votes as against the 69,236 votes credited to her,
she had no reason to congratulate him.
The ACN in Kwara
state rejected the gubernatorial and the state house of assembly
elections and affirmed that it would be heading to the court to
challenge the results.
The chairperson of
the party in the state, Kayode Olawepo, said violence would have erupted
in the state “after thousands of youth and women gathered at the family
house of our gubernatorial candidate to seek permission to go on
rampage.” He said the party leadership pleaded with them to avoid
spontaneous reactions and needless loss of lives that may arise from
such a protest.
ACN’s candidate,
Dele Belgore, came behind the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Abdulfatah Ahmed. Mr Ahmed won the poll by 254,969 votes, while
Mr Belgore polled 152,580 to come second.
Ample evidence
Mr Olawepo, who said
the party had ample evidence to back up all its claims of electoral
malpractices and brigandage by the winning party, declared that the
ACN’s decision to head to the electoral tribunal was to “restore the
mandate of the people.” In Niger, the state governor, Mu’azu Babangida
Aliyu, is set to begin another round of court visits as three of the
parties in the state’s governorship election have threatened to
challenge his victory at the court.
The ACN, CPC and
ANPP rejected the result of the election declaring Mr Aliyu as
re-elected for a second term. The three political parties refused to
sign the election result sheets at the INEC office during the
declaration of the governorship results.
Mr Aliyu of the
Peoples Democratic Party won by polling 543,205 votes and winning 25
percent of votes cast in all the local governments in the state. His
closest rival, Bako Shettima of the CPC, polled 244,770, while David
Umoru of the ANPP got 68,368 votes.
However, a statement
jointly signed by the CPC state chairman, Umar Shuaibu, ANPP state
chairman, Jummai Mohammed, and ACN returning officer, Aminu Bello, noted
an alleged high incidence of election malpractices and bribery of
voters.
“As a result of all these the ACN, CPC and ANPP in Niger state totally reject the election results,” the parties said.
The parties also railed against the imposition of curfew on the state
during the election period and the alleged use of force by security
agencies to disperse voters in various polling units across the state.
