The dust created by INEC’s declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate as the winner of the 17 November Ekiti, Oke-ero, Isin and Irepodun Federal Constituency by-election in Kwara State is yet to settle.
Following widespread allegations of irregularities during the election, the leadership of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has resolved to employ all legal means to retrieve the HoR ticket which was previously held by PDP’s late Princess Olufunke Adedoyin, from the APC.
Insiders at high-level meetings of PDP in the state held last week in Ilorin have revealed plans to appeal the outcome of the elections at the tribunal. To this end, the source continued, an experienced Senior Advocate of Nigeria with a strong history of winning electoral appeals, has been briefed to file the petition based on what the insider described as 'strong evidence of substantial non-compliance with the applicable electoral law’.
According to the source, this move has energised members and supporters across the state, especially in Kwara South where the elections took place.
"The fact that only 25% of registered voters voted in the election even in our traditional strongholds in Kwara South shows that the overwhelming deployment of security forces to intimidate our members, the unjust arrest of our members, coupled with wide-spread malpractice was responsible for APC's victory. Those who see the results of a by-election in which APC cheated as evidence that Saraki-PDP is beatable in Kwara should stop deceiving themselves. We will reclaim our stolen mandate. Mark my words”, said the source.
On the ongoing review of positions in the party ahead of the general elections, the source laughed off rumours that the outcome of the disputed by-elections spurred the current changes. Said the highly placed party official: ”Consultation and reviews have always been part of the Saraki PDP structure. It's a decades-long practice to take members' feedback over party decisions. Currently, the leadership is reviewing and addressing feedback from members across the board. It's nothing to do with our stolen mandate in the by-election which we will soon recover. This feedback, consultation and review by our leadership in the PDP are the primary reasons we haven't experienced the kind of impunity the APC is notorious for and which has put their party in disarray and weakened it ahead of 2019”, said the source who asked not to be named.