PDP demands resignation of INEC chair, Zakari

In a related development, the PDP has demanded the immediate resignation of the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, over his alleged controlling role in the declaration as inconclusive, the September 22, 2018, Osun State Governorship election.

Claiming that the election results was characterized by fraudulent manipulations the PDP also called for the resignation of Mrs. Amina Zakari, the INEC Director of Operations, who is also in charge of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Department, where it said election results were altered to favour the APC.

In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP claimed that it no longer had confidence in Prof. Yakubu who was alleged of presiding over an “atrocious and compromised electoral umpire that manipulates electoral processes, doctors figures, allocates fictitious votes and subverts the will of the people in an election”.

Disclosing that the party will file a suit against INEC declaration, Ologbondiyan said, “While the PDP, in rejecting INEC’s declaration, is resolute in the decision to seek legal redress and take our mandate, freely given to our candidate by the people of Osun State, our party has also discovered schemes perfected by INEC to rig its planned supplementary election in favour of the APC”.

The PDP claimed that it had additional documentary evidence of how INEC, “through its Operations and ICT Department, doctored results from polling centers, directly shortchanged the PDP with no fewer than 4,387 votes by slashing votes cast for the PDP at the polling centers while allocating fictitious figures to the APC.

“The PDP has facts on how INEC slashed over 1000 votes freely cast by the people for our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in Ayedaade Local Government Area, just to reduce our votes from our legitimate 10,836 votes cast at the polling centers to 9,836 votes so as to give APC the lead with a 1,000 votes margin in the local government.

“Also, the PDP has evidence of how INEC, while collating results, directly allocated over 1,367 fictitious votes to the APC in Olorunda Local Government Area, to fraudulently shore up the APC votes to duplicitous 16,254 votes.

This is in addition to evidence of how INEC awarded over 2,000 fictitious votes in favour of the APC in Oshogbo to push APC’s vote to 23,379 against the actual 21,479 votes scored by the defeated party.

” From the facts available to us, INEC robbed our party of over 4,387 votes. Our actual winning margin stands at 4,740 votes against the 353 votes declared by INEC”.

Calling for the resignation of INEC boss and Zakari, the PDP said ” Prof. Mahmood Yakubu can no longer be trusted to conduct the 2019 general elections, it is public knowledge that Mrs. Amina Zakari, the INEC Director in charge of Operations and ICT is a direct blood relation of Mr. President and as such, we believe that she cannot be an impartial arbiter in an election involving her uncle.

“The PDP therefore calls on all patriotic Nigerians to join in the demand for the resignation of Prof. Yakubu and Mrs. Zakari so as to avert this dangerous path, where INEC is leading our nation”.

The party also said it was aware that INEC has increased the original number of voters in the affected polling centers by over 850 so as to expand its latitude to manipulate results with uncollected Permanent Voter Card (PVCs); a development, which further shows INEC’s determination to rig the election for APC.

The PDP therefore demand the return of its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as the duly returned candidate at the September 22, 2018 Osun Governorship Election.