The Governorship election held in Katsina State on Saturday was rejected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday. The party expressed its intention to challenge the election result in court.
The PDP campaign council’s Director General in the state, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, made this announcement during a press conference held in Katsina. Several party leaders, including the governorship candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado, the campaign council chairman, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri, and other prominent members from the state, were present at the press conference. The PDP campaign council Director General spoke on behalf of the party and declared its stance against the election result.
Mustapha said: “We reject the result of last Saturday’s Governorship election in totality. The election was characterised by violence, financial inducement, intimidation of civil servants and many other malpractices.
“We are heading for court to challenge the result. It is really sad that instead of allowing the elctorates to freely elect their leaders, cases of malpractices, including intimidation of civil servants, financial inducement, thuggery and other acts of violence were employed to twist the electorates’ choice.
“I know by the grace of God we are going to win,” Mustapha emphasized.
Despite the low turnout of voters in the Governorship election compared to the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the APC scored almost twice as much as they did in the previous Presidential election in the state.
Inuwa criticized the opposition party for only adding a few thousand votes to their already high score from the Presidential election, stating that they showed a lack of intelligence. He encouraged party members and supporters in Katsina state to remain law-abiding and continue supporting the APC.
In contrast, the PDP governorship candidate rejected the election result, citing several instances of malpractice that he plans to present in court. As of Monday, there had been no formal response from other political parties that participated in the Katsina state governorship election.