Taraba Stalemate: APC Urges INEC To Cancel Results In Areas With Election Irregularities, Or Repeat Election

Ms. Alhassan said that the conclusion by INEC does not reflect what really transpired in the elections, and that in many Wards cutting across many Local Governments, the elections did not hold in accordance with INEC guidelines. “Despite several reports, complaints and protests to INEC (SPOs, EOs, REC and ROs) by our party field officers, myself and the state party chairman on the irregularities while going on and after, at collation levels, the INEC failed to react and went ahead to accept most of the flawed results,” she said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to choose between canceling the results in the various local government areas that were marred by irregularities in the Taraba State Governorship and House Assembly Elections last Saturday, and conducting a fresh election altogether.

The demand was made on Thursday at a press briefing at the National Headquarters addressed by Aishat Jumai Alhassan, the APC governorship candidate, in the presence of the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun.

She was reacting to the declaration of the governorship election in the State to be inconclusive.  The commission reached the conclusion that the number of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the votes gathered by the candidate of the APC candidate and Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ms. Alhassan said that the conclusion by INEC does not reflect what really transpired in the elections, and that in many Wards cutting across many Local Governments, the elections did not hold in accordance with INEC guidelines.

“Despite several reports, complaints and protests to INEC (SPOs, EOs, REC and ROs) by our party field officers, myself and the state party chairman on the irregularities while going on and after, at collation levels, the INEC failed to react and went ahead to accept most of the flawed results,” she said.

Giving some examples of events throughout the local government areas, Ms. Alhassan said, “In Sardauna, PDP officials colluded with INEC officials to reduce APC Governorship votes from 72,584 to 28,860, after having declared the initial result of 72,584 in favour of the APC at the polling units. 

“And in Takum, APC agents were chased away, with some of them shot at and injured by security agents, Card Readers were not used and INEC Collation Officers refused to collate results in several Wards. In some wards of Takum LGA like Kashimbila and Chanchanji, there was violence and destruction of sensitive materials but results were still returned.”

She offered an extensive review of the issues attendant upon the elections, including: widespread non-use of Card Readers or destruction of the machine; non-accreditation of voters; subversion of the rights of the people to exercise their franchise; the use of security agencies in aid of the PDP; kidnap of electoral officials by the PDP with the help of security agencies; ballot stuffing; and collation of results in non-INEC designated areas

On the two options available to INEC, Ms. Alhassan said, “In the event that the overall result is cancelled and a fresh election ordered, such should not be conducted under the supervision of the current INEC officials in Taraba State,  as they have shown sufficient evidence of bias and complicity in the April 11th election. A total overhaul of the INEC in Taraba should be a pre-requisite for any fresh election in the State.”

She also urged the National headquarters of INEC to immediately launch a probe into the conduct of the April 11 governorship election in Taraba in order to ensure that the rights of the people of the State to choose their leaders are not abridged by conniving INEC officials, security and desperate PDP members.

“Finally considering the partisan posture of the security in the state during the April 11th general election, there should be massive redeployments in the interest of fairness and justice,” she said.