Muhammad Sabiu, Kaduna
Protesters stormed the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Kaduna on Thursday to express their displeasure over the declaration of Senator Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor-elect.
Recall, the Returning officer for the election, Professor Lawal Bilbis had declared that the All Progressives Congress ( APC) candidate, Senator Uba Sani had won the governorship election by defeating the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Isa Ashiru by 730, 002 to 719,196 votes.
The women protesters dressed in black attires and holding placards which read, ‘Give us our mandate, ‘APC victory was a mandate stolen, “A stolen Mandate is Not Acceptable”, “Give Us Who We Voted For”, “No to election rigging among others called for the review of the last Saturday’s election.
Addressing newsmen later, the leaders of the aggrieved women who spoke separately, Aisha Maidana Ibrahim, a former Kaduna State women leader and PDP women leader northwest zone, and Maria Dogo, former House of Assembly member representing Chikun constituency and former Commissioner, women affairs, said, “The people of Kaduna State came out Saturday, March 18 to massively voted for Isa Ashiru, the PDP gubernatorial candidate.
Ibrahim noted that “Everybody heard the result in INEC Portal and wondered why INEC should have declared a different result in favour of the APC candidate.”
She also accused INEC of stealing the mandate of the people of Kaduna State and giving it to the APC, alleging that various results were reduced in most local government areas.
The former PDP woman leader explained that INEC should be free, fair and objective in dealing with Nigerians and give them results of who they voted for.
In her own remarks Maria Dogo, remarked that “INEC should refer itself to the server to get the correct result of the election from every polling unit to avoid any controversy.”
She noted, “It is unbecoming of INEC and we will employ every legal means to reclaim our mandate. Nigerians are tired of being taken aback 200 years ago instead of progressing and so, they can not continue robbing us of our choices.”
Also speaking Prince Gmoney Owolaiya popularly said the essence of the peaceful protest is to tell the whole world that their mandate was stolen.
He called on Governor Nasir el-Rufai to return the people’s mandate, saying that it was crystal clear that PDP won the election.
