24 Hours After PDP Protests, Kaduna APC Alleges Rigging In Gov Poll

Despite winning last Saturday’s governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rigged the election in about seven local government areas (LGAs) of the state where it won.

This comes barely 24 hours after PDP members in the state on Thursday held a protest to demand the declaration of their candidate, Isah Ashiru, as the rightful winner of the March 18 governorship election held in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the APC candidate, Senator Uba Sani, the winner of the poll, having scored 730,002 votes, while his closest rival, Ashiru, got 719,196 votes.

However, the state Secretary of the APC, Yahaya Pate, at a press conference on Friday, vowed to challenge the “electoral fraud” in court allegedly committed by the PDP.

Citing affected LGAs to include in Chikun, Kajuru, Soba, Makarfi, Ikara, Zangon Kataf and Kudan, Pate argued that the figures did not conform with the reality on the ground, especially the reported low turnout of voters on the election day.

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Reviewing the outcome of the election, he alleged that their members and supporters were harassed and intimidated by “PDP thugs” on the day of the election, thereby paving the way for mutilation of results where the PDP allegedly knew that it was going to lose.

The APC however commended the people of Kaduna for electing Sani as well as other state and National Assembly members.

On Thursday, APC supporters took to the streets to register their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election.

The supporters, mostly women who were dressed in black, protested at the Kaduna State Secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), accusing INEC of upturning the victory of their candidate in favour of Sani.