The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has rejected the result of the Ondo State governorship election and called for its cancellation. The opposition party accused the Independent Election Commission, INEC of rigging the election in favour of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye, on Monday the PDP said it had directed its candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, and the Ondo State chapter to challenge the outcome of the election at the tribunal.
It castigated the election as a charade, saying it did not reflect the will of the people.
The party said, “INEC has however graduated from Inconclusive Elections as seen in Kogi, Bayelsa, Osun, FCT, Imo, Nassarawa and some other previous By-Elections in the Country to ‘Advanced Election Rigging’, as in the case of Edo and Ondo states Gubernatorial Elections.
“It is common knowledge that the APC Agents openly bought votes of the electorates in the full glare of security operatives who did nothing to prevent such dastardly violation of the Electoral Law.”
The PDP accused the APC of buying votes due to the harsh economic situation it had inflicted upon Nigerians “which have indeed made all Nigerians virtually beggars in their own country”.
It added, “In view of the fact that the Election was blatantly manipulated from the beginning to the end to favour the APC, we vehemently reject the results of the November 26, 2016 gubernatorial election in Ondo State. The election and all actions leading to it fall short of laid down principles guiding conduct of elections in Nigeria.
“We have instructed our candidate and the Ondo State Chapter of our party to proceed to the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election. We call on the judiciary to redeem Nigeria’s image on this matter as we request for the total cancellation of the election in Ondo State.”
The PDP defeated candidate, Jegede is yet to accept or reject the election result.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have, through the social media, condemned the refusal of INEC to postpone the election, in view of Jegede’s last-minute emergence as the PDP candidate as a result of the decision of the Appeal Court which nullified the candidacy of Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim.
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY 