PDP says INEC REC, Pai compromised election results in Plateau

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau state has said the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Husseini Halilu Pai of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) compromised election results in the state.

PDP has also accused Governor Simon Lalong for conniving with INEC in upturning the votes of electorates who came out in their numbers to generously vote for the PDP candidates in the Presidential and National Assembly elections held 23rd February 2019.

“It is glaring to everyone that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji. Husseini Halilu Pai had compromised his position as an umpire.

“We know from where the pressure is coming, Governor Lalong is the source”, PDP state Chairman, Damishi Sango said.

Speaking in a press briefing with Journalists in Jos, Sango lamented that four days after the conduct of the last Saturday’s elections, INEC is yet to turn in the final results of the National Assembly and House of Representatives results and declare the winners.

In a statement read at the briefing Sango said that Plateau people clearly spoke their minds by vesting their trust in PDP through overwhelmingly voting for the party.

“Their votes gave PDP unassailable victory across the state. However, we are saddened to note that four days after the conduct of the elections, INEC is yet to turn in the final results and declare the winners.

“The situation cuts across the three senatorial zones of the state. In the Southern Zone, INEC declared the election inconclusive after cancelling the results of some units in Qua’an Pan and Wase LGAs.

“There was clear pressure on the Returning Officer to declare the result in favour of APC. In the Central Zone, INEC again declared the election inconclusive.

“As a matter of fact, INEC and stakeholders alongside agents of the parties entered into a formal agreement for a re-run to be conducted in some units in Kanam LGA.

“But very surprisingly, INEC summoned the Returning Officers under heavy military intimidation and ordered them to announce the result of the election in favour of APC.

“In the Northern Zone, we received reports from INEC officers on ground and our agents that PDP had roundly won the election, INEC then picked Tudun Wada-Kabong ward, a stronghold of the PDP in Jos North LGA and has withheld the results of all the 65 units with a total voter population of about 92, 000 people!

“The commission therefore instructed the Returning Officers not to announce the results. It is therefore evident that the wholesome cancellation of units across the state was deliberately targeted at disenfranchising the people and weakening PDP bases.

“It is glaring then to everyone that the Resident Electoral Commissioner ((REC), Alhaji. Husseini Halilu Pai had compromised his position as an umpire.

“Consequently, he has set the whole of Plateau on tension which is a recipe for monumental crisis as the PDP and its stakeholders have been working tirelessly to calm frayed nerves.

“But this cannot go on for too long, as are alerting the nation and the world to hold the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Husseini Halilu Pai responsible for any breakdown of law and order.

“Governor Lalong wants a second tenure at the expense of the blood and peace of Plateau”, the PDP Chairman said.