Kogi SDP senatorial candidate rejects election result

The Kogi central senatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Natasha Akpoti, has rejected the result of the election conducted last Saturday.

She said 2015 election materials, including stamps, were used to conduct the election which was held on February 23, 2019.

Akpoti in a statement on Friday, however, said she would challenge the results in court with the aim of reclaiming her mandate.

According to her, the election epitomised everything wrong in Nigeria’s electoral processes and showcased the inadequacies in the security system which grossly affected our democracy especially as it pertains women in politics.

The candidate alleged that the election was characterised with violence and intimidation of her supporters by political thugs and security agencies.

She said, “The violence leading to intimidation and harassment of me and my supporters before, during and post elections. On the eve of the elections, I was denied entrance into the state by over 100 Governor Yahaya Bello’s Government house police led by his ADC. I had to take a detour from Abaji via Nassarawa, Keffi and Benue.

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“On arriving Okene at 9 am I met the same men who disarmed my security, send away by security personnel and blocked my vehicle from movements using tires and bricks. It took the efforts of the Force Headquarters instructing the Okene Area Commander to free me and my personnel.

“Yesterday, the mother of Enesi Ojo (our youth leader who was murdered by Kogi APC thugs) was mercilessly beaten up for reporting the matter to the police and was asked to keep away from pursuing the case of her son’s murder.

The woman who led the Ihima Women Protest against the perpetuated violence in Ebiraland also narrowly escaped death by the whiskers when masked men with guns stormed her home.

“What started as a peaceful election ended up being one of the most horrible daylight rape of our democracy. Ballot boxes were snatched and destroyed some by fire. Card readers were stolen and many tampered with to accept without verification and in many places card readers were not used at all. Pre-thumb printed ballot papers were stuffed into the ballot box.

“Breach of the INEC security measure was evident with the use of 2015 stamps. Multiple voting by illegally acquired PVCs was used in their thousands by APC Kogi State. Impersonations by people voting more than 10 times with different cards.

“SDP agents were harassed and chased out of many polling units in Okene, Ogori-Magongo, Ajaokuta and Adavi local government areas where collaborations with the INEC staff enabled APC Kogi to rig and shamefully falsifying SDP agents signatures into the result sheets.

“The aforementioned and more are provable by hard concrete evidence. We believe the judiciary is the last hope of the common man and trust that the rule of law shall be applied in defending the people’s mandate at the tribunal”.