The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the controversial declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Aisha Binani as the winner of the Adamawa State governorship election.
Atiku in a statement on Sunday signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe said the declaration is shambolic, a plot to undermine democracy and provoke violence in Adamawa State.
OsunDaily News recalls the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa, Prof Hudu Yunusa Ari, strangely announced Binani’s purported victory on Sunday morning while collation of results was still going on.
Moments later, INEC denied the results and suspended the collation of results.
The decision has generated several reactions and Atiku in his own reaction, said the announcement is a plan aimed at upturning the democratic wishes of the people of Adamawa State in the governorship election in the state.
The former Vice President of Nigeria added that the initial decision of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State to declare the APC candidate, Sen. Aisha Binani, as the winner of the election, is a case study to the shambolic nature of the 2023 elections in general and an attempt by the ruling party to claim victory at all cost.
Atiku however stated that the people of the state would not allow such injustice to prevail and also called for the arrest of the REC.
The statement reads: “Here in Adamawa, we are witnesses to a novel practice in election management where a Resident Electoral Commissioner announced the loser of an election as a winner.
“It is not in doubt that INEC has approached the Adamawa State election with a preset agenda of declaring the APC at all cost.
“It is, therefore, on this note that we wish to call the attention of the world to the scheme being perpetrated by INEC to compromise the electoral wishes of the people of Adamawa State.
“We also wish to inform the world that such behaviour by INEC has a natural consequence of unsettling the peace and security of the society.
“We have seen how INEC conducted the February 25 and March 18 elections against the run of play and challenging cheated candidates to go to the court, knowing full well the agenda that they are up to.
“It must be put on record that the people of Adamawa State will not allow themselves to cheated three times in a row. It must also be put on record that whatever the consequences of the scheme being scripted, both the INEC and those vested with state powers should be blamed for the consequences of such actions.
“That the APC candidate has a prepared acceptance speech is a pointer to the guarantee of a false victory which the INEC must have promised her.
“Recall that this was the same Resident Electoral Commissioner who pressured the Returning Officer to manipulate the results of the contentious Fufore Local Government Area in the March 18 governorship election.
“The people of Adamawa shall not allow this injustice to pass without being challenged.
“It is our demand that the Adamawa REC and any other parties complicit in this treasonable act should be arrested immediately and prosecuted to the full extent of the law to serve as a deterrent to anti-democratic forces who may want to torpedo our democracy and provoke violence in our country.”
