The Benue State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said it has decided to challenge the result of votes obtained by the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the just concluded 2019 Governorship Election.
The PDP disclosed this in a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom and made available to the Next Edition in Makurdi.
The statement said the party’s team of lawyers will be challenging those votes at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi.
Mr Iortyom said the leadership of the party took the decision after it received field reports indicating numerous irregularities perpetrated by APC during the polls.
“Following the reports, PDP leaders met and have concluded that given the party’s acceptance across the state, its candidate, Governor Samuel Ortom, would certainly have posted a wider margin of votes against his closest rival, if it were not for the irregularities.”
The party also notes that the results of the Presidential, National, Governorship and State Assembly elections indicated clearly that PDP is the preferred choice of the people of the state.
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The party further stressed that all those arrested for one election malpractice or another during the last general elections, including possession of large numbers of PVCs, weapons and large amounts of money across the state, were APC members.
It stated that “Our cross petition will give us opportunity to provide proof that Governor Ortom’s votes were far more than those announced by INEC while his APC opponent had far less than what was declared for him.
“PDP has nothing to worry about the case filed by the APC Governorship Candidate who has the constitutional right to his action since all our victories in the state were genuine and the product of the popular support and mandate of the people.
The PDP also debunked the insinuation that it sent thugs to ransack the Jime/Ode Campaign Organization office in Makurdi, saying “we dismiss the allegation as unfounded because we neither sponsor nor patronize thugs.
The party maintained that if such a thing ever happened it possibly must have been carried out by APC thugs who were mobilized for the elections but have since after the polls been complaining over non-settlement for their services.
My Iortyom insisted that “it does not make sense for anyone to imply that the campaign office was ransacked to collect materials in respect of the APC petition because election materials are supposed to be in the custody of INEC while petitions filed are usually served on respondents hence there is no need to use underhand means to get them.”