Candidates who lost Saturdayβs governorship election and their supporters on Tuesday protested the outcome of the poll and vowed to challenge the results in court.
There were protests by the Peoples Democratic Party supporters in Ogun and Nasarawa states just as the All Progressives Congress in Kano State gave the Independent National Electoral Commission seven days to declare the governorship election in the state inconclusive.
In the results of the governorship election declared so far by INEC, the APC has won 15 states, the PDP won eight, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party emerged victorious in Kano State.
A protest by the PDP members in Ogun State turned violent when an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps fired a gunshot into the air to disperse protesters, who stormed the INEC office in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Scores of the PDP members led by the partyβs candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, had marched to the INEC office, where they rejected the result of the election, which Adebutu lost to the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, who is the APC candidate.
Pandemonium however broke out when security operatives prevented the party members from entering the premises. During the confusion, an NSCDC official fired a gunshot in an attempt to disperse the protesters.
The angry protesters pursued and pelted him with stones as he ran away when they angrily advanced towards him.
Some security personnel including officials of the Department of State Services were injured during the melee.
The protesters, who were singing anti-INEC songs, were bearing placards with inscriptions such as βINEC should save our democracyβ, βINEC betrayed the people of Ogunβ, βElectoral fraud will not standβ, INEC should respect peopleβs wishβ, βINEC should stop being biasedβ and βOgun election was inconclusive, INEC correct yourselfβ, among others.
But, the protesters were denied access to the INEC office by heavily armed security operatives.
Speaking at the entrance of the office, Adebutu said he was at the commission to submit a petition.
He insisted that the protesters would not leave the place until officials of the electoral commission attended to them.
Adebutu said the party had submitted several protest letters to the commission demanding the review of the results of Saturdayβs election and re-run in polling units, where elections were either cancelled or disrupted.
He said that it was regrettable that security agencies were being used against the wish of the people, warning that the development could degenerate into another #Endsars protest.
Adebutu said, βWe are here to protest, but unfortunately we have been confronted by security men, shooting sporadically into the air, in the hope that they would disperse us, but we are resolute, we are going to stay here until we are addressed by officials of INEC.
βWe contend that the measures by which other states have been treated and they are allowed to have rerun should apply to Ogun State.ββ
Adamawa rerun
He noted that the governorship elections in Adamawa and Kebbi states were declared inconclusive, adding that the same should apply to Ogun State.
Adebutu later held a closed-door meeting with some INEC officials. Emerging from the meeting, Adebutu urged his supporters to remain law-abiding.
In Nasarawa State, where the state Governor, Abdullahi Sule of the APC defeated the PDP candidate, David Ombugadu and others, no fewer than 500 women from 13 local government areas of the state, who were dressed in black clothes, stormed Lafia, the state capital to demand the cancellation of Saturdayβs governorship election in the state.
The state Women Leader of the PDP, Stella Oboshi, led women from the party and other political parties on a peaceful protest, demanding the cancellation of the poll.
She explained that the reason for the protest was because INEC went ahead to announce a winner of the governorship election when there was contention in the results that emanated from Gayam and Ciroma electoral wards in the state capital.
Oboshi said, βWhat we are doing today is a peaceful protest and it is allowed in a democracy. The reason for our protest is that in Nasarawa State, two electoral wards cannot hold the whole state to ransom.
βThe governorship election and that of the House of Assembly were done the same day, the same time and with the same election materials. But the governorship election was announced, and that of the House of Assembly has not been announced up till this moment because it was declared inconclusive.
βIf Gayam and Ciroma electoral wards results from Lafia LGA were included in the results that INEC announced for the governorship election but the Assembly elections were inconclusive in the same wards, then INEC should also declare the governorship election inconclusive so that we can start from afresh.β
She appealed to supporters of the PDP and other opposition political parties in the state to remain calm, while expressing optimism that INEC would do the needful by declaring the already announced governorship election inconclusive.
The Kano State APC also rejected the result.
It insisted that INEC should have declared the exercise inconclusive.
INEC on Monday morning, declared Abba Kabiru Yusuf, of the NNPP, winner of the state governorship election.
He defeated the APC candidate, Nasiru Gawuna.
The Chairman of the APC in the state, Abdullahi Abba, at a press conference on Tuesday rejected the result.
Represented by the partyβs legal adviser, Abdul Adamu Fagge, the APC insisted that the election should be declared inconclusive pointing out that the cancelled votes were more than the margin between the first and the second parties.
Also, the party drew the attention of INEC to the cancellation of 16 House of Assembly elections in the state, citing violence, as the reason, while the same votes were considered in collating the governorship election.
To this extent, the party expressed dismay over the declaration, emphasizing that the two elections were held on the same day, same time, and at the same place and under the same circumstances.
The party gave INEC a seven-day ultimatum to declare the result inconclusive.
Plateau APC
On his part, the APC governorship candidate in Plateau State, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, vowed to challenge the result of the election, which he lost to the PDP candidate, Caleb Mutfwang.
Yilwatda, who addressed his supporters in Jos on Tuesday, said, ββWe were sincere in our hearts. We were sincere in our votes. We didnβt rig anywhere. The two local government areas gave us a difference of 200,000 and we knew it was rigged. There were reported cases of low voter turnout and yet, the votes increased by over 100 per cent. How can low voter turnout turn into high voter turnout? We will challenge the outcome in court.
But the PDP Publicity Secretary in the state, John Akans, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the APC candidate was desperate.
The rejection of the election results also dominated discussions in the Kaduna State chapter of the PDP on Tuesday.
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