PDP demands review of governorship election results in Ogun

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the results of the gubernatorial race, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national leadership has urged a quick review of those results (INEC).

On Sunday, INEC announced that Governor Dapo Abiodun had won the election after receiving 276,298 votes to beat Oladipupo Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 262,383 votes.

Adebutu, however, had disputed the findings and charged the APC of stuffing 14,000 ballots into the voting machines.

PDP Debo Ologunagba, the National Publicity Secretary, held a news conference on Saturday and accused the election commission of hastily declaring APC Abidoun the winner.

The opposition argued that the declaration broke the terms of the Electoral Act of 2022 and demanded that the whole process be reviewed.

“The PDP has reviewed the conduct of the Saturday, March 18, 2023 Governorship election in Ogun State and observed with concern that the result as declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is completely at variance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Guidelines issued by INEC for the conduct of the election,” according to the statement.

In particular, it is clear from the summary of the collated results for the governorship election that our candidate was clearly ahead before tainted INEC officials colluded with the defeated All Progressives Congress (APC) to annul the PDP’s thousands of winning votes and brazenly declare the APC candidate, Mr. Adedapo Abiodun, as the winner, in violation of the Electoral Act of 2022’s provisions.

It is instructive for INEC to note that even with the canceled votes, the lead between Mr. Adedapo Abiodun of the APC and Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu of the PDP is not greater than the total number of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected in Polling Units where election did not hold or was cancelled by INEC, citing disruption of polls.

Although 33,750 PVCs were gathered in locations where polls were postponed or cancelled, the Declaration and Return submitted by INEC is illegal since the lead between the two candidates, as reported by the INEC Returning Officer, is only 13,915 PVCs.

“Therefore, INEC’s decision to annul the PDP’s winning votes and hastily declare and declare again the defeated candidate of the APC as the winner, in flagrant violation of the law and with complete disregard for the Will of the People as expressed at the election, is reckless and highly condemnable.

“The PDP urges INEC to reconsider the Declaration and Return made in order to prevent an impending breakdown of Law and Order in Ogun State.

“INEC must understand that the people of Ogun State are already angry and are reluctant to accept a declaration that does not reflect their stated Wish during the election,” said a representative of the state’s people.

Miniechat

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