March 23, (THEWILL) – The Benue state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the militarisation of Governorship and House House of assembly election in the state, in which the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Revd Fr Hycinth Alia and some assembly seats were won by APC.
At a news conference in Makurdi on Thursday, the State Acting chairman of the party, Mr Isaac Mffo, who was flanked by the gubernatorial candidate, Titus Uba and his running mate, Sir, John Ngbede, the party noted that the use of thugs and intimidation in connivance with the electoral body have caused PDP a defeat during the exercise.
“As a party, we had done our homework diligently in the build-up to the elections having campaigned thoroughly in all parts of the state in the course of which we touched base with the electorate. We ran a campaign which was based on our track record of solid developmental performance since 1999 and most recently on the sterling achievements of the Ortom administration which are visible across all facets of the state.”
According to the party, it was ready for the elections and did mobilise to participate in them with faith and trust in the promises made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure free and fair elections.
“Sadly, this was not the case at the Governorship and State Assembly polls which were held on 18th March, 2023. From the reports received and studied by the legal department of our party, we have arrived at the conclusion that the conduct of the elections fell far below the accepted minimum standards as obtained under our current democratic dispensation.
“It is, therefore, the decision of the Benue State Chapter of PDP that the outcome of the March 18th, 2023 elections be challenged at the Benue State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Makurdi. It is our belief that we owe democracy in our country Nigeria a duty to help deepen it by taking such an action to reverse the hijacking of the popular mandate of the people as done by APC during the last elections.”
Mr Mffo stated that it has the faith that the mandate of the Benue electorate will be restored in favour of the PDP as was rightfully given by the people on March 18th, 2023.
The party commended it leader, governor Samuel Ortom, the three senators Gabriel Suswam, Emmanuel Orker Jev and Abba Moro and other stakeholders for their support during the struggle.
He charged party faithful to remain calm and law abiding, saying the current situation is a temporary setback which will be corrected as soon as possible.
