Sola Ojo, Kaduna 

Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Saturday, March 9 governorship election in Kaduna State, Isa Ashiru Kudan, has rejected the result declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .

INEC returned the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, as validly elected in the election.

Ashiru, who addressed newsmen, yesterday evening, said, he stands on the position of his party to challenge what he called concorted results at the election tribunal to reclaim his stolen mandate.

According to him, the disparity between the numbers of votes obtained in the presidential election and the governorship election was unbelievable, “how could the people of Kaduna state be convinced the APC could get more votes during the governorship election than it got in the last presidential election.

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“I wish to state without any fear of contradiction that reports obtained by our party from across the State indicate that the elections were marred by a lot of irregularities.

“It is on the basis of these established irregularities that our party, in a petition to the Resident Electoral Commissioner rejected the results and called for its outright cancellation.

“Our dear members of the media, it is important for you to note that available reports have shown that Smart Card Readers were not used during the elections in a lot of polling units in Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North, Igabi, Zaria, Lere and Ikara Local Government Areas.

“It is our firm believe that non-usage of the card readers which is a violation of the electoral guidelines have rendered the results from these areas invalid and should have been cancelled.

“Another issue of concern to our party was the clear militarization of the electoral process in various part of the State,as military personnel were used to intimidate voters particularly in the areas where our party has an overwhelming strength and support. Of a particular example is the use of military in Birnin Gwari and Kauru local government areas. Soldiers were also used to alter the result of our House of Assembly Candidate to in Makera Constituency of Kaduna South local government area.