Borno bye-election a mockery of democracy, says PDP

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The Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the Borno-Central senatorial district bye-election held on Saturday, Alhaji Kaka Bolori, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of colluding with security agencies to falsify the will of the people at the poll.

Bolori, while addressing journalists on Monday, vowed to go to court to retrieve his ‘stolen mandate’.

INEC had on Sunday declared the All Progressives Congress candidate, Alhaji Bashir Garbai , as the winner of the poll.

But Bolori said that the bye-election was a mockery of democratic system.

He said that the agents of six opposition parties were harassed and intimidated by the police and the members of the Civilian Joint Task Force at the polling units.

He said, “Saturday’s election was not fair, not free and not properly conducted by INEC. Therefore, on these grounds, we will simply challenge it in the court of law.

“Our concern is that this is the first election under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and if INEC cannot conduct a free and fair election in a senatorial district, the forthcoming elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states may not be credibly conducted.

“We are compiling all the original list of the election results which is contrary to what was presented by INEC in declaring the APC the winner of this senatorial bye-election. And after that, we will then go to the court of law.”

He also alleged that, “There was thuggery. The police arrested most of our agents while some were harassed after they were taken away. They sat down and wrote whatever they wanted to write.”

Bolori said that the PDP has video evidence about where INEC officials were voting for the APC.

The PDP candidate also said the party has pictures of where the APC thugs were beating his agents.

But while addressing a press conference on Monday, the leader of the independent observers accredited by INEC to monitor the bye-election, Dr. Gabriel Mwambu, said the election was free and fair and that the APC candidate was duly elected.

He said the 10 accredited civil society organisations, who monitored the election, did not observe any breach of peace.

On the allegation by PDP that the election was marred by irregularities, Mwambu said, “It is also possible that these stories were generated. It is a known fact that most Nigerian politicians are sour losers and would like to discredit a process once they lose an election.

“There was no known election in the country where all parties agree to its fairness and the Borno-Central senatorial election can definitely not be an exception.”

Source: Punch