Niger East By-Election: David Umaru Was Denied Victory – APC The LEADERSHIP report that The All Progressive Congress (APC) has released more facts on how its candidate, Barrister David Umaru, was rigged out to give the PeoplesDemocrat ic Party (PDP) advantage in the last Saturday inconclusive senatorial by-election of Niger East constituency. The publicity secretary of the party in Niger State, Mr Jonathan Vatsa, alleged that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) aided the plan to rig out the APC candidate by giving accreditation cards to some of the mercenaries of PDP who masqueraded as security officials which made them have access to polling units to try to induce voters. He said when they discovered that the electorate had resolved to vote for APC despite the inducement, they allegedly started snatching ballot boxes to ensure that the result that gave David Umaru outright victory was reversed. Vatsa disclosed that the report from the field revealed that while the exercise was going on, INEC officials turned a blind eye, especially in Paiko, Gurara, Tafa and Suleja local government areas. He said, “When they could not rig in the townships, they went to the villages to intimidate our agents as if they were security men and stuffed the ballot papers, only to come and say that there will be supplementary election in just few places. What of Gurara, Suleja and Tafa where there was massive rigging? “We are not new to the antics of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Emmanuel Onucheyo, who was always calling for supplementary elections and postponing elections to suit the purpose of the ruling PDP to come back and win; he did the same thing in 2011. “We are aware of the various moves aimed at going against the wishes of the people by not allowing our candidate, Barrister Umaru, to emerge, as desired by the majority of the people, but we have appealed to our supporters not to relent; they should continue to mobilise themselves ahead of the next Saturday for the conclusive election.” Meanwhile, through a signed statement by Mr. Israel Ayegba. Ebije, the chief press secretary to the Niger State Governor yesterday stated that so many voters were disenfranchised for frivolous reasons in the exercise. The spokesman to the governor revealed this after a stakeholders’ meeting, including PDP officials and INEC, to check future occurrence. He said the stakeholders were alarmed at the way and manner thugs almost took over most of the polling units, noting that the stakeholders called for more security operatives at the affected units for next Saturday’s re-run election.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 05:37:22 +0000
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