The All Progressives Congress [APC] has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Adamawa State.
The party said the poll was marred with irregularities ranging from voting without accreditation to acceptance of result sheets that were not signed by party agents.
Another party in the state, Providence Peoples Congress [PPC], however, described APC’s claims as untrue.
INEC had, on Monday, declared the final results in Jada, Michika and Toungo council areas, with the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], Atiku Abubakar, who is from Jada, beating the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, by a margin of 10,690 overall in the state.
Atiku recorded a slim victory in Jada, polling 22,877 against APC’s 21,332 but won with a wide margin in Michika where he scored 32,085 as against Buhari’s 10,669.
While registering the party’s displeasure, the National Vice Chairman, North-East, who is also the party collation agent in Adamawa, Mustapha Saliu, alleged that irregularities were recorded in several parts of the state.
He said,
“Our grievance is not only on Michika but on the entire process. People cast their votes even without the Permanent Voter Cards.
“Irregularities were noticed in Dimsa, Numa, Namurudi and Madagali but we appealed to our supporters not to resort to violence.
“In Dimsa, figures of result did not match. In a council area, there was over-voting. Figures were tampered with. The collation officers condoned this. I don’t want to accuse anyone of complicity but there is lack of regard for rules and regulation guiding election.
“We have written a petition to INEC. Our agents wrote their complaints and forwarded it. One of our agents was going to Numa to submit complaints and he was attacked and beaten. Police rescued him.
“We are not rejecting the results totally. Our prayer is for INEC to compare the figures with the print out of the voters listed in the card readers. You cannot use the registration list when card readers are available.”
But the chairman of Providence Peoples Congress [PPC] in the state, Dogo Victor, countered the claim.
He said,
“A particular party is presenting a version of event that we all did not agree with. There is a big foul play by the party.
“All the parties should have presented that version of APC’s view, if it was true.”
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Kassim Gaidam, acknowledged the receipt of the petition, saying before the result would be presented in Abuja, the commission would thoroughly look at the figures.
“The position of the law will be followed regarding the petition before we go to Abuja. We all know the function of card readers, but we should allow the law to take its place,” he said.
