From: Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Taraba State, on Tuesday, rejected the result of the February 25th Local Government election in the state and called on the State Independent Electoral Commission SIEC to refund the monies that it collected from its members for the election that never held.
The state chairman of the party, Ahaji Sani Hassan Chul, said this at a Press conference in Jalingo.
Chul said that the commission deceived the party by its promise of a level playing ground for all political parties and participants to collect their monies when they knew that there was going to be no election but a mere charade.
“The chairman of SIEC Dr Philip Duwe had assured us of his impartiality in the discharge of his duties but as it turned out, it was only a false promise.
“What happened was a mere charade calculated more at inciting the people than the pretext for an election. The election was a theater of absurdities and in most cases, no vote was cast at all and yet results were announced and winners declared.”
Chul accused the electoral body and the Nigeria police of working to ensure that the entire process was a failure, citing instances of ballot box snatching, non delivery of elections materials, disruption of the process by violence and where election were not held at all and yet results were announced and winners declared.
He therefore called for the refund of all the monies the members were decieved into paying to obtain forms under the pretext that there would be election.
“In light of the irregularities that characterized the elections and given our strong objection to injustice, we strongly condemn the conduct of the exercise and reject in totality its result. We also demand, as of right, that all the monies paid to the SIEC for the purchase of forms by our candidates be refunded forthwith,” Chul said.
Daily Sun recall that the Executive Chairman of SIEC Dr Philip Duwe on Monday admitted that the exercise was not devoid of challenges but called on all parties to remain calm, assuring that the commission had learnt its lessons and would work to improve on the process subsequently.
Meanwhile, Governor Darius Ishaku, on Tuesday, swore in 15 chairmen that were declared winners if the February 25th council elections in the state.
Ishaku said the overwhelming victory of the PDP at the polls was a prove of his acceptability in the state and how popular his policies were with the people.
He called the chairmen to work hard to compliment efforts by the state government to rescue the state from underdevelopment.