HURIWA requests that INEC rerun the results in 16 Adamawa LGAs.
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a civil rights advocacy organization, has requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to verify election results reported in the state’s 16 local government areas before the gubernatorial race is rerun in Adamawa State.
The organization said that reliable evidence about suspected Peoples Democratic Party manipulation of the state’s March 18 gubernatorial election made the call essential (PDP).
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, national coordinator of HURIWA, stated during a press conference on Sunday in Abuja that the inability of the police to safeguard the poll and the role played by INEC both negatively affected the decision to declare the election inconclusive.
According to Onwubiko, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for governor of Adamawa state justified his request for a review of the results in 16 local government areas, including Michika, Madagali, Hong, Gombi, Song, Girei, Numan, Lamurde, Demsa, Guvuk, Mayo Belwa, Jada, Toungo, Shelleng, Ganye, and Maiha.
Before there can be any credible basis for free, fair, and transparent rerun elections, as declared by INEC, he emphasized the necessity for an urgent assessment of the results listed above.
The gubernatorial candidate for the APC in Adamawa State, he said, “submitted an addition to her petition of March 22, 2023, via her legal team.
The indisputably and undeniable facts that, specifically with regard to the aforementioned Governorship election, the Collation officer and the Resident Electoral Commissioner were harassed, intimidated, brutalized, and subjected to grievous bodily harm and inhuman treatment by the agents of the PDP to the extent that they were forced to be moved to safety at locations like the army barracks were made abundantly clear in both the first petition and the supplementary petition.
“HURIWA is requesting that the police authorities detain these PDP party operatives who are allegedly responsible for playing one nefarious role or another in causing the Adamawa election crisis.
“HURIWA is fully aware via a number of reliable information that the aforementioned movement was with the goal of pressuring them to announce their leader, the Governor of Adamawa State, as the election’s victor.
The State Returning Officer wisely announced on Sunday, March 19, 2023, that the collation procedure would be postponed to Monday, March 20, 2023, to allow for the evaluation of the Fufore Local Government Area result.
It is disappointing that this well-considered recommendation was received with intimidation and threats, purportedly from a PDP agent named Dr. Hong, who threatened to burn down the INEC collation Center and maim the INEC employee. In any case, the police commissioner and the director of the department of state services (DSS) left the room, leaving the INEC officials defenseless against the ravaging thugs rather than providing security protection for them. This trend of police neglect of duty seems to be prevalent across Nigeria.
