Murtala Ajaka, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State, has reacted to the results of the just-concluded election, alleging irregularities and rigging.
Ajaka, who spoke on Channels TV’s “The 2023 Verdict: Off-Cycle Elections,” said he would not challenge the outcome of the poll in court because it would be a waste of time.
“What am I going to court to do when the same INEC that did this is going to come as a witness to defend what they did? So it is a waste of time,” he said.
Ajaka accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of colluding with the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, to rig the election. He said there was no election in five local governments in the central senatorial district of the state, as results were simply written.
He also alleged that over 130,000 votes were cast in Okene Local Government Area, even though the number of accredited voters on the BVAS was less than 30,000.
Ajaka warned that if INEC allows the results of the Kogi election to stand, it would be a recipe for anarchy in the country.
“If the INEC chairman allows this to stand, they are looking for trouble in Nigeria,” he said. “You gave me assurance that the election would be transparent, you allowed me to waste my time, spend my money, mobilise my people, only for you to write the results. Even if I’m not sad about it, you expect my supporters to be happy. I assure you if they allow this to stand as they are allowing in all the states now, they are calling for anarchy in this country.”
The returning officer for the election, Johnson Urama, who is the deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on Sunday night pronounced Mr Ododo of the All Progressive Congress (APC) the winner after results from all 21 local government areas of the state were read out.
Mr Ododo had 446,237 votes after winning 13 local government areas, and Mr Ajaka came in second place with 259,052 votes. The SDP candidate won in eight local governments, while Mr Melaye, who had 46,362 votes, did not win any.