The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), of Nasarawa State has queried the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on where they got the initial 51,807 votes margin it generously allocated to AA Sule, which returned him as the elected governor of Nasarawa State.

According to the party, AA Sule celebrated and accepted the declaration by INEC that he won the Nasarawa governorship election with 347,209 votes.

He is now banking on the minority judgement of the Election Petition Tribunal, which gave him 295,402 votes as the basis for his appeal.

The Party made this known through a press briefing released by Alh. Ibrahim Hamza, Nasarawa State PDP Public Relations Officer, Wednesday in Abuja.

Speaking further, Alh Hamza stated “It will be recalled that INEC in March 2023 claimed that AA Sule won the governorship election with 347,209 votes and it allocated 283,016 votes to Dr. Ombugadu of the PDP.

“But in his Minority Judgement, Hon. Justice Ibrahim I. Mashi ruled that AA Sule scored only 295,402 votes as against the inflated votes of 347,209 freely given to him by INEC. The same Minority Judgement said Dr. Ombugadu scored 291, 603 as against the suppressed votes of 283,016 allocated to him by INEC.

“What is playing out now based on the Minority Judgement is that AA Sule is distancing himself from the 48,008 votes donated to him by INEC

“The declaration of AA Sule as the winner of the governorship election by the Minority Judgement with only 3,799 votes margin stands in stark contrast to his earlier assertion that he won the election with the margin of 51,807 votes as declared by INEC.

“The Minority Judgement calls to question what AA Sule is actually appealing against when it’s glaring that fictitious votes were deliberately allocated to him by INEC to enable him to emerge as the “winner.

“INEC, as the body responsible for overseeing our elections, holds a sacred duty to ensure that the will of the people is accurately represented. Any irregularities or discrepancies in the vote count must be thoroughly investigated to maintain the trust of the electorate and uphold the principles of democracy.

“While it is the right of every citizen to seek legal recourse, we believe it is essential to address the lack of substantive grounds required to warrant the appeal of the Tribunal’s ruling, which will ultimately lead to its dismissal by the appeal court.

“We are sure that any appeal filed by AA Sule will lack substantial grounds to challenge the results of the election, as the people of Nasarawa State across all tribes and religions overwhelmingly voted for Dr. Ombugadu in the governorship election.”
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