The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Diran Odeyemi, has said the party will challenge the results of the governorship poll in states where the party lost at the Election Petitions Tribunal.
The PDP chief, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday, also said the national body would support the governorship candidates during their legal battles.
Odeyemi said, “There is no doubt about that. We are going to the tribunal to challenge the results of the elections where we believe we have been rigged out. If we are challenging the presidential election at the tribunal, rest assured that we will challenge the governorship election because we know that we have been rigged out in many states.
“We are still collating the results from all the states. As soon as we finish collating them, we will head for the tribunal.
He added, “The national body has never abandoned anybody. They have always contributed to the electoral success and they are not abandoning anybody. That is why national officers are spread all over the country, so there is no national officer in any state that has not been reporting to the national office and the national office knows what is happening in all the states.”
Meanwhile, no fewer than eight candidates who lost the governorship election in their respective states have also expressed their readiness to approach election petitions tribunal to challenge the results of the election.
In Ogun State, for example, the candidate of the Allied People’s Movement, Adekunle Akinlade, rejected the result declared by INEC, due to what he described as manipulation, saying he would go to tribunal.
The Labour Party in the state has said it will also go to the tribunal over its exclusion from the ballot paper for the governorship election.
In Lagos State, the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, Chief Owolabi Silas, has rejected the result of the election, saying he will seek redress at the tribunal. He alleged that the APC colluded with INEC to manipulate the result of the election.
In Akwa Ibom State, the candidate of the APC in the election, Nsima Ekere, said he would go to the tribunal to challenge the victory of the ruling PDP in the state. He claimed that he won in 26 out of 31 local government areas in the state.
“We have evidence and we will use appropriate legal means to reclaim the mandate. I urge you all to remain calm,” he added.
In Ebonyi State, the candidate of the APC in the election, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, who had earlier rejected the results of the exercise and called for its cancellation, said he would go to the tribunal.
In Kwara State, the candidate of the Alternative Party of Nigeria, Mohammed Abubakar, said he would file his petition before the tribunal within one week to challenge the omission of his party’s logo on the ballot paper.
He said he had petitioned the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, over the incident. On the other hand, the PDP Chairman in the state, Kolawole Shittu, said the legal team of the party was still reviewing the results.
In Cross River State, the candidate of the Young Democratic Party, Mr Emmanuel Undie, said he would go to the tribunal, alleging that the level of irregularities and rigging thwarted the will of the people.
Meanwhile, the APC Publicity Secretary in Delta State, Sylvester Imonina, said the party would go to the tribunal, adding that the party had begun gathering documents that it would use as evidence.
But, in Oyo State, the state chairman of the APC, Chief Akin Oke, said the party was considering going to the tribunal to challenge the victory of the PDP in the election.
