PDP Refuses To Sign Presidential Election Result Sheet

PDP Refuses To Sign Presidential Election Result Sheet

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have refused to sign the result
sheet of the Presidential election which was announced by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja early this
morning. 

According to the results announced by the electoral
body, President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC)had highest
votes of 15,191, 847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar
of the PDP who polled 11,262,978 votes.

Buhari won in 19 states while Atiku won in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Shortly after the result was announced, the chairman of the
commission, Yakubu Mahmood, called on everyone to come forward to sign
the result sheet. However, the PDP representative, Osita Chidoka, left
the hall at the National Collation Centre.

In an interview with newsmen, Chidoka said his party does not accept
the election result for three reasons. He said that the party had
expected INEC would project the result of the Smart Card Readers used
for accreditation of voters.

“The second one is the issues we raised about the number of
registered vis-à-vis if what the chairman now calls collated voters
means that 1.6 million people are missing in the voter register. We
think that the issue is substantial enough to require a resolution. We
also believed that difference between the accredited voters and the
total votes cast which came to about 750,000 votes, requires an issue to
be looked at. Finally, we believe that INEC needs to look at the
cancellations that took place in the election impacting 2.7 million.

“So, in our view, this election needs to be looked at again and
possibly we would have had a re-run, more importantly. We think that
INEC should have looked consciously to the use of the card reader. The
absence of card reader is a major violation in the elections, it renders
that election null and void, and that is what the chairman promised
us. So, for us in the PDP, we believe that this is a new law in
Nigeria’s electoral history.’’

Chidoka, however, said that the PDP remained a very lawful party,
saying “we believe in the law, we believe in the constitution of
Nigeria. We are committed democrats. The PDP is a party that entrenched
democracy in Nigeria. The PDP is the party that made it possible for
Nigeria to enjoy the fruit and dividend of democracy. We will continue
to support democracy in Nigeria, we will continue to promote democracy
in Nigeria but we have a good message for Nigerians. We want them to
remain peaceful. We will explore all our options, including the believe
that the legal process in Nigeria is one of the ways to resolve
issues.’’