Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the results of re-run election that took place on Saturday in respect of House of Representatives’ seat in Ajeromi Ifelodun Federal Constituency as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC Returning Officer for the Constituency, Prof Mathew Ilori, announced that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo emerged winner polling a total of 36,115 votes to defeat his main challenger, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Hon. Rita Orji, who scored 32,557 votes.
Factional chairman of PDP in the state, Otunba Segun Adewale aka Aeroland, kicked against the outcome in a statement made available to newsmen in the state, saying the result as announced by the electoral commission was far from being correct and would definitely be challenged in court.
Otunba Adewale popularly known as Aeroland, while recalling that the party’s candidate, Hon. Orji had led with 3,224 votes during the February 23rd poll exercise, said it had come to the knowledge of the party that whenever it won a contest and INEC called for a rerun, it was all purely a plot specifically planned to rig the exercise.
“It has come to their (PDP) knowledge that whenever the party wins and INEC calls for a rerun, it’s a plot specifically planned to rig the rerun with falsification of results, direct confrontation and disenfranchisement of electorates and outright rigging,”
Adewale said, declaring: “The party calls for a cancellation of the rerun because such cannot be called an election.”
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He said it was on record that in the affected 71 polling units where re-run poll was held last Saturday, “PDP voters were chased away by dangerous weapons wielding thugs, some uncollected PVCs were distributed to APC members which they used in voting, creating a mismatch with their thumbs.
“INEC has a lot of questions to answer over this matter probably in court,” the PDP chieftain said, adding the party was, therefore, protesting against the barbaric conduct of the election because such cannot be allowed to continue under a democratic setting.
“If such is allowed, it will spell doom for the country’s future,” Otunba Adewale declared.
He, therefore, urged the National leadership of the party to also reject the results outrightly, saying this was because “from the credible report, there was nothing like an election in Ajeromi but a festival of result writing exercise and electoral fraud.”
Adewale, while saying that INEC had failed Lagosians yet again, vowed that the party’s candidate, Orji would be encouraged to go to court and get a deserving judgement against what he termed “the kangaroo election” marred by outright rigging which was made possible by INEC, APC and some moles in PDP who worked against the interest of the party.
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