The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of cheating and using heavily armed security forces to muscle votes for its candidate in the last Saturday’s House of Representatives bye-election in Katsina State.
It said the APC’s alleged resort to cheating was an indication that President Muhammadu Buhari and his party had completely lost popularity among Nigerians, even in the president’s home state.
The party also described the last Saturday’s Kano State local council election, which was also allegedly characterized by outright cheating, open underage voting and ballot stuffing, as a wholesome mockery of electoral process.
“These two elections have signified that the APC cannot win any free and fair election, even in their supposed stronghold,” PDP stated in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Sunday.
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The PDP said the fact that it still held a legitimate 22,690 votes against the 30,719 of the APC candidate, showed that PDP was the natural winner of the election.
“It further strengthens our resolve that our party, the PDP, still commands a genuine followership among Nigerians.
“We however invite Nigerians and the international community to mark how the APC and its controlled Federal Government are corrupting our electoral system, by using force to intimidate the people and steal their votes.
“The APC is also corrupting security officials to use maximum force as a desperate measure to save President Buhari, whose popularity had dipped across our nation,” the PDP alleged.