By Abdallah el-Kurebe, el-Kurebe
The Sokoto state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) declaration of governor Aminu Tambuwal as winner of the state governorship elections held Saturday.
Addressing a press conference at the residence of Sen. Aliyu Wamakko Sunday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the party, Alhaji Sambo Bello Danchadi stated that the party had rejected INEC’s declaration.
“The so called winning margin of 342 votes is far less in number than the registered voters in polling units where elections were not held, which is a contravention of the electoral law.
“The APC has since laid our complains to the Sokoto Office of INEC on breaches of the electoral law and outright rigging perpetrated by our opponent during the elections. The INEC nonetheless went ahead to make the declaration of a winner without taking heed of our complaints. Our complaints also include the denial of potential voters the opportunity to cast their votes in some polling units within a number of local government areas during the rerun.
“We have also laid complaints that elections were conducted twice in some polling units and the figures of the two elections added up as one election,” the APC alleged.
The party therefore disagreed with INEC over the declaration. “In view of the foregoing, we as a political party, deem it necessary to express our disagreement with the action taken by INEC to declare a winner without giving us a fair hearing in our position as stakeholders in the electoral process.”
The party further stated that is was exploring all ways that were within the law to protect and defend their votes as expressed in favour of the APC in the governorship election.
