The Peoples Democratic Party in Katsina State, has rejected the result of Saturday’s Governorship election in the state.
The party said it was heading for the court to challenge the result.
The Director General of PDP Campaign Council in the state, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa revealed the position of the party at a press conference in Katsina.
In attendance at the press conference, among others were – the party’s governorship candidate during the election, Senator Yakubu Lado; chairman of the campaign council, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri and other party leaders in the state.
The PDP campaign council director general declared on behalf of the party: “We reject the result of last Saturday’s Governorship election in totality.The election was characterised by violence, financial inducement, intimidation of civil servants and many other malpractices.
“We are heading for court to challenge the result. It is really sad that instead of allowing the elctorates to freely elect their leaders, cases of malpractices, including intimidation of civil servants, financial inducement, thuggery and other acts of violence were employed to twist the electorates’ choice.
“I know by the grace of God we are going to win,” Inuwa enthused.
He also observed that despite the low turnout of voters during the Governorship election, compared to the voter turnout recorded during the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the results of the governorship election showed that the APC scored almost twice what it scored in the previous Presidential election in the state, stressing, “they added only few thousand figures to our party that came first in the Presidential election, to show that they are not smart at all.”
Inuwa appealed to the party members and followers in the state to remain law abiding and continue to support the party.
In his own remark, the PDP governorship candidate also declared that he was rejecting the election result.
He said, “The election was characterised by several malpractices which we will cite at the court. I reject it totally.”
Other political parties that participated in the governorship election in Katsina state were yet to formally react to the result, as at Monday.
The state, however, was calm, throughout Monday, even as the result of the election was the major issue of discussion by residents and other political observers in the state.
Meanwhile, the Governor-elect, Dr. Dikko Radda of APC has promised “an-all-inclusive government” that “would take care of all interest groups in the state”.
Radda gave the assurance in Katsina, on Sunday night, shortly after he was declared winner of the election.
The PUNCH recalls that INEC, on Sunday night, declared Katsina State candidate of APC, in last Saturday’s Governorship election, Dr. Dikko Radda, winner of the election in the state.
INEC Retuning Officer for the election, Professor Muazu Abubakar Gusau, made the announcement shortly after all the commission’s Collation Officers in the 34 Local Government Areas of the state had declared results of the election in their respective councils.
According to Gusau, Radda polled 859,892 to emerge as the winner, while APC’s candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke polled 486,260 and Nura Khalid, of New Nigeria Peoples’ Party polled 8, 263.
The Returning Officer thus declared, “I, Professor Muazu Abubakar Gusau, the Returning Officer for the Governorship election, held in Katsina State, on Saturday, March 18, 2023, hereby declare Umar Dikko Radda of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, winner of the election and is hereby returned elected as the Governor.”
Other governorship candidates and their scores as announced by the Returning Officer included – Barau Tanimu of Accord party – 297, Dankali Garba of AA party – 276, Amin Ibrahim of ADC – 925, Ahmed Murtala of ADP – 2,309 and Khado Kabir of BP – 403.
Others included Abu Ibrahim of LP – 560, Abdullahi I of NRM – 896, Gafari Imran of PRP – 4,226; Zakare Babangida of SDP – 1,049 and Tukir Saude of ZLP – 132.
The Returning Officer pointed out that there were 35,167,19 registered voters for the election, putting the total number of accredited voters at 13,992,719.
He put the total number of valid votes at 13,65848, voided votes – 20,589 and total vote cast at 13,864,27.
Gusau disclosed that polls were cancelled in 88 polling units for reasons which included over voting and violence.
