EKITI: PDP governor congratulates Fayemi as party rejects outcome

Following Saturday’s Ekiti governorship election, the Governor of Gombe State, Hassan Dankwambo, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, congratulated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kayode Fayemi, for his victory, while his party and some of its other leaders rejected the outcome.

“We gave all the necessary support to our party and the candidate, Professor Kolapo Olusola Eleka to win the #EkitiDecides2018, but sad we lost. In life, you win some and lose some.

“Congratulations to the winner, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi,” Dankwambo tweeted on Sunday using his personal Twitter account @HEDankwambo.

“I call on our supporters to be steadfast. We must not lose hope and be discouraged. The task ahead is too great for us to dwell on the current setback. This defeat should further strengthen our resolve to give Nigerians, a credible alternative in 2019,” the governor added.

The PDP however rejected the outcome of the election.

Speaking with journalists on Sunday, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the PDP, said it was clear that their candidate won based on results from the various polling centres.

“The PDP cannot be crushed. The PDP rejects in its entirety the results concocted by the APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, in the governorship election in Ekiti state and declared by INEC,” Ologbondiyan said.

“The party rejects the falsified results and declaration of APC candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to be the winner of the election, as a daylight robbery, a brazen subversion of the will of the people and a direct assault on our democracy.

“From the authentic results flowing directly from the polling centres across the state, it is clear that the PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, incontrovertibly won the election, with a very comfortable margin over the APC candidate, only for INEC to allow the alteration of results at the collation centres.”

The spokesman said card readers were brought in from other states to rig the election.

“The PDP has the details of all the polling units where we won, mostly with very wide margin ahead of the APC, only for the security agencies to chase away our agents, then aid the alteration and swapping of such results with those smuggled in by the APC at the collation centres,” he said.

Read also: EKITI: INEC declares Fayemi winner

“We know how APC conspired with INEC to bring in card reader machines belonging to Kogi, Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun states into Ekiti state to enable APC members from these states to vote in Ekiti election with ease.”

He said it is shameful that the APC would rely on “brute force” to win the Ekiti election.

“This robbery of the franchise of Ekiti people is a horrible rape of our democracy and it is most uncharitable that it could happen under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the participation of the APC, who hugely benefitted from the credible electoral process midwived by the PDP in 2015.

“Let it be known to all that, surely, this electoral banditry will not stand. The PDP is already collating all the infractions in this election and within the possible timeframe, we shall make our next step to reclaiming our stolen mandate public.”

“I have never experienced that kind of robbery in politics,” said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Officially, the PDP says it is still reviewing the results and will make a categorical statement after the review.

 

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