Politics

Natasha asks INEC to review election results

The Peoples Democratic Party's Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission's Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, review the results of the recently ended senatorial race in Kogi Central.

In a letter dated March 1, 2023, Akpoti-Uduaghan requests a review of the declaration and return of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Abubakar Ohore, as the winner of the February 25 senate election.

Akpoti-Uduaghan in the letter filed by her lawyer, Johnson Usman, contended that, "The candidate of APC was illegally returned with 52,132 votes and declared the winner of the election in the senatorial district while our client was wrongly credited with 51,763 votes".

According to the letter, the error was followed by a rigorous study of the election results from the duplicate of the result sheets, which proved that votes were changed and adjusted in favor of the APC's candidate.

She claimed that the alleged results tampering took place in three polling units in Ganaja township Ward, Ajaokuta Local Government Area of the state.


According to the letter, "the polling units affected by manipulation of the step-by-step recording of polls in violation of Section 70 are as follows:

In Voting Unit 009 on Form EC8 A(I), APC received 105 votes while PDP received 751 votes; nevertheless, when the votes were shifted to Form EC8B(I), APC received 205 votes while PDP received 51 votes; the outcome of the manipulation resulted in APC receiving 100 votes while PDP received 700 votes.
In Polling Unit 049, APC received 46 votes while PDP received 210 votes on Form EC8 A(I), but when the ballots were moved to Form EC8B(I), 290 votes were recorded for APC and 10 votes were recorded for PDP, resulting in APC receiving 244 votes while PDP was denied 200 votes.
In Polling Unit 046 on Form EC8 A(I), the APC received 51 votes while the PDP received 112, but when the votes were transferred to Form EC8B(I), the APC received 640 votes while the PDP received 16, the effect of the manipulation resulted in the APC receiving 589 votes while the PDP received 96 votes.

"Please find attached Forms EC8 As, 8B, and 8C. "The information included inside is the same as that which was submitted to the commission server," she stated.

She claimed that the PDP should have received an additional 996 votes.

"The total result of the improper computation is clear in the return and declaration of Engr. Abubakar Ohere as the winner of the election of the Kogi Central senatorial district since the candidate who obtained the most votes was not declared the winner," she said.

"From the foregoing, we have our client's firm instructions pursuant to Section 65 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 to demand and hereby demand for a review of Engr. Abubakar Sadiku Ohere's declaration and return made by the Returning Officer for senatorial district because if the 993 votes wrongly credited to the APC candidate is deducted from 52,132 votes wrongly credited to him, his total scored would have been 51,199 votes and if Our client would have won the election with 1,530 votes in this scenario.

"The cumulative result of the aforementioned analysis demonstrates that the Declaration and Return that was issued by the Returning Officer for the Kogi Central senatorial district was made contrary to the law; specifically Sections 51(2) & (3), 66 and 70 among others of the Electoral Act, 2022.

"These violations of the law materially affected the result of the election as declared and hence led to incorrect declaration and return of the APC's candidate otherwise. Our Client, who won the election, should have been proclaimed the winner based on the overall number of valid votes cast at the polls."

She requested that the INEC chairman utilize "your good office in examining the foregoing and declaring her as the winner of the Kogi Central senatorial district election held on February 25, 2023."

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