Candidates in Last Minute Scramble to Win Supplementary Elections
As stakeholders ask Bindow to concede defeat
Governorship candidates in states where the Independent National Electoral Commission declared elections inconclusive are making last-ditch efforts to emerge victorious in supplementary elections scheduled to hold on March 23.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared governorship election in Adamawa, Benue Plateau, Sokoto and Kano States, citing electoral violence and over-voting among other reasons.
In Benue State, for instance, the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) have been making frantic efforts to ensure victory in the supplementary election.
Members of both parties have started canvassing for support and votes in areas where the re-run will take place. Rerun election will be conducted in almost all the 23 local government areas of the state with about 121,091 votes at stake. After the March 9 election, PDP polled 420,576 votes, while APC scored 329,022. Before the election was declared inconclusive, the PDP was leading 81,554 votes.
However, INEC had to declare the election inconclusive because cancelled votes121,091 were higher than the margin between the two top candidates.
Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, who contested re-election on the PDP platform, led the race with 81,554 votes more than his closest rival, Emmanuel Jime of the APC. The margin was, however, less than the 121,091 votes in the polling units where voting was cancelled. This has necessitated the move by the two leading political parties to begin wooing voters to ensure victory. The Publicity Secretary of Benue APC, Mr. James Orguga said his party welcomed the declaration of the governorship election inconclusive saying a lots of things went wrong with the election.
Orguga in a chat with our correspondent in Makurdi said even before the declaration, the party had raised the alarm over irregularities.
He said the development would give his party the time to prepare more and then, come back and make up the inefficiency that was recorded during the last elections.
Meanwhile the PDP has insisted that Ortom won the election and should be declared winner of the election.
According to its returning agent, Mr. Alex Adum, Ortom met the condition to be declared winner even as he wondered why INEC decided to declare the election inconclusive.
In Adamawa State, also, some politicians have called on the incumbent governor, Alhaji Jibrilla Bindow and candidate of the APC to accept defeat and not to put the state on fire.
The politicians expressed concern over INEC’s decision to declare the governorship election inconclusive.
The state’s former governor, Mr. Boni Haruna sid, “We have reliably gathered that the total number of permanent voters cards collected in the 44 polling units is 31027, a figure that would not reverse the victory of the PDP candidate, Alhaji Umar Fintiri even after the supplementary elections in the 44 units. He noted that the registered voters in the polling units, where re-run will hold on March 23, are now only 34,101.
Consequently, stakeholders believe that Fintiri, candidate of the PDP had won outrights, and that there was no basis for INEC to declare the election inconclusive.
The Secretary of Adamawa PDP, Mr. Abdullahi Prambe said the party had gleaned from INEC records that 34,101 is actually the registered voters in the affected polling units, as against 40,988 declared by the state returning officer.
Likewise, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Lawan Babachir said the only honourable thing “to do is for my party’s candidate, Governor Bindow to concede and give peace a chance.”