The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Mohammed Sani Abdullahi (Dattijo) has resolved to challenge the result of the February 25 election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Lawan Adamu Usman (Mr LA) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election and has since presented him with a certificate of return.
Dattijo announced his decision to challenge the result in a statement on Thursday.
Read the full statement below:
On the 1st of March, the Senator-elect for Kaduna Central paid a surprise visit to my home and I welcomed him in the spirit of brotherliness and friendship. In our conversation, I congratulated him and told him that I would only challenge the election results if our review showed they were in substantial violation of the electoral act and did not fully represent the will of the people.
We have completed a full review of the results and we are confident that there was substantial non-compliance with various provisions of the law given the numerous cases of over-voting, non-use of BVAS and neglect of various electoral processes among others. In many cases, results sheets were substituted and ridiculous documents were used and validated by some electoral officials.
I have attached below a few of the ‘result’ sheets downloaded from INECs iRev portal accessible to everyone which, although unbelievable, are actually the result sheets used for several polling units to declare election results. In some local governments, the results declared at polling units are in complete deviation from what was calculated at collation centers. It is clear we have found significant anomalies and will therefore be taking our case to the election petition tribunal. It is our strong belief that if justice is served, we will win back our seat, InshaAllah.
We have also, sadly, documented a number of anti-party activities by our party members at various levels. We are still collating the evidence and will be sending these formally to the party leadership for subsequent action via internally established mechanisms. It is our sincere hope that the party will take necessary disciplinary actions to forestall similar occurrences in the future.
On Saturday, the 18th of March, we will be heading to the polls for the Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections. I want to urge all our supporters to continue to work for and support APC candidates in all the positions. We remain loyal and will continue to work for the progress of our country and our great party, the APC.
My sincere appreciation goes to our supporters across Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North, Igabi, Giwa, Kaduna South, Chikun and Kajuru. I am also immensely grateful to everyone who has called, visited or prayed for us and for the support to my colleagues in the party who have won their elections.
By the grace of Allah SWT and your continuous support, our political journey has just begun.
I remain humbly yours.
Muhammad Sani Abdullahi [Dattijo]16 March, 2023
