- Petition INEC..
- Allege widespread disenfranchisement, non use of BVAS machines, declaration of double and fake result sheets
- Say PDP Tampered With BVAS
- Hint At Massive Legal Battle
The All Progressives Congress, APC, Delta State chapter and the party’s Governorship candidate in the Mar. 18.election, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, have rejected the declaration of Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, as governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Delta State, Rev. Monday Udoh-Tom had, a few hours ago, declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Oborevwori as the winner of the Saturday 18, governorship election in the State.
But reacting to the declaration in a statement issued by the Director, Communications and Media Strategy of the council, Olorogun Ima Niboro, the party dismissed the result declared by INEC as a pyrrhic victory for the PDP which will be overturned by the sheer weight of evidence against it.
The statement condemned the action of the State REC, noting that in spite of the myriads of infractions perpetrated by the PDP and the apparent incontrovertible proofs, he still went ahead and declared the PDP candidate as winner of the Mar. 18 Guber election.
It further added that the declaration of the PDP governorship candidate was not only unacceptable, but utterly rejected by the APC in the State and the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.
“We have an entire arsenal of evidence showing the disenfranchisement of the people, non use of, and tampering with BVAS machines, declaring double results at polling units, issuing of fake result sheets to agents and uploading cooked up results into the BVAS.
“We also have evidence of widespread vote suppression, voter intimidation, thuggery and violence against our supporters. The PDP was at its worst during the election: wickedly denying the people of their will freely expressed at the polls.
“Look at the streets of Delta today. It is gloom everywhere. Our people are wearing long, mournful faces. No sign of jubilation anywhere. Our streets would have been throbbing with life, song and dance, were this the will of the people.This rape of the will of the people will not stand. It must not be allowed to stand!
“We call on our party faithful and supporters to remain calm. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning”, Niboro said.
In a petition addressed to the Returning Officer, Delta State Governorship 2023 Election, INEC, Asaba, Delta State, signed by the Director of Strategy, Mr. Godwin Anaughe, a copy of which was sighted by our correspondent, the party listed 19 Local Government Areas where their results were disputed. It also cited several sections of the Electoral Act 2022 that were breached by the PDP in the course of the election.
The petition reads in part: “Following the conduct and announcement of results, the Electoral Act provides the collation of the announced results to determine the winner of the election. The collation of the result of the Delta State Governorship election held on the 18th day of March 2023 is being done across the board without regard to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022. Section 64(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides:
“A collation Officer or returning officer at an election shall collate and announce the result of an election, subject to his or her verification and confirmation that the:
“(a) number of accredited voters stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 47(2) of this Act; and
“(b) the votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 60(4) of this Act”.
“The All Progressives Congress, in the course of this State collation exercise, has raised questions as to the correctness of the votes stated in the collated results being produced from many of the Local Government Areas before the returning officer as it is contemplated under section 64(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which provides:
“Where during the collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, the collation officer or RETURNING OFFICER shall use the following to determine the correctness of the disputed result-
“(a) the original of the disputed collated results for each of the polling units where the election is disputed;
“(b) the smart card reader (in this case-the BVAS) used for accreditation of the voters in each of polling unit where the election is disputed;
“(c) data of accreditation of recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed as prescribed under section 47(2) of this Act; and
“(d) the votes and results of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed under section 60(4) of this Act”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, without prejudice to the correctness of any collated result, as may arise from any inquest, the All Progressives Congress has disputed and is still disputing before this Collation Body, the correctness of the collated results from all polling units in the following Local Government Areas of Delta State: –
DELTA NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT
Aniocha North
Aniocha South
Ika North East
Ika South
Oshimili North
Oshimili South
Ukwani
Ndokwa East
Ndokwa West
DELTA SOUTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT
Bomadi (Only Wards 07, 08 and 09, that is, Akugbene1, Akugbene 2 and Akugbene 3)
Burutu
Patani
Warri North
Warri South West
Warri South
Isoko North
DELTA CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT
Ethiope East
Okpe
Ughelli South (only Wards 04, 05, 07 and 08)
Sapele (Only Wards 02, 03, 05, 08 and 10
“We know for a fact that every Political Party and candidate or its agent has the right to contest the correctness of any collated result pursuant to section 64(6) of the Electoral Act, 2023 and once that is done the Collation Officer or Returning Officer has a bounden or mandatory DUTY to inquire into the disputed collated result by taking the steps outlined in this section of the Electoral Act. The collation officer does not have discretion in the matter.
“Section 64(5) provides that a collation officer or returning officer shall use the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from the polling unit under section 47(2) of this act and the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from the polling unit under section 60(4) of this act to collate and announce the result of an election if a collated result at his or a lower level of collation is not correct. It is our contention that in the above LGAs, there was a massive bypass of the BVAS and illegal entry of false results.”
