Governor-elect to challenge PDP’s ‘unimaginable’ margins in court

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Governor-elect, Senator Uba Sani, has said he will challenge some election results where the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won with what he described as unimaginable margins.

In an interview with the Hausa Service of BBC monitored by our correspondent in Kaduna, the Governorelect expressed surprise that PDP won some local government areas with bogus figures.

Sani said he will go to the Election Petition Tribunal to contest PDP’s victory in those areas, adding that after the verdict, the margin of victory between him and Alhaji Isa Ashiru, the PDP candidate, will widen.

Recall that Senator Sani was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the Returning Officer for Kaduna State and Vice-Chancellor of the Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Professor Lawal Bilbis on Monday.

According to the election result, Senator Sani polled a total of 730,002 votes to defeat his closest rival, Hon. Isa Ashiru of the PDP polled 719,196 votes, a difference of 10,806 votes.

The Governor-elect who said that the election results were marred by irregularities in areas where PDP won, gave the example of Chikun local government area where the opposition got over 89,000 votes, describing the figures as unimaginable.

He however, promised the people of Kaduna state ‘’to be fair and even handed it to all, including those who didn’t vote for me. I’m glad with the outcome of the election. People came out and voted for me. ‘’

On the allegation that his election was rigged, the Governor-elect said that such allegation is in the character of the Nigerian politician, adding that ‘’God gives power to whomsoever He wants and when He wants.’’

He recalled that in 2011, he lost the Kaduna central senatorial election and his supporters urged him to go to court, but he refused, believing that that was not his time, adding that ‘’as God willed it, I became a senator in 2019.’’

The Governor-elect expressed confidence that he will be victorious at the Election Petition Tribunal where the opposition promised to challenge his victory, adding that he will also go to court to challenge PDP’s bogus victory in some local governments.