₦airaland Forum

The 2015 general elections held amid phenomenal display of political awareness by the electorate, high powered scheming and gimmicks by politicians, and an unprecedented polarity among the general populace of the country. Political analysts worried that Nigeria had never been so divided ahead of an election like what ensued pre-2015 elections.

The nation practically stood still for the general elections involving one Presidential, 29 governorship, 109 Senatorial, 360 House of Representatives and 1,152 State Legislative seats. The elections were held amid tension, insecurity, killings, kidnappings and ballot box snatching, among others.

Despite the rare display of statesmanship by President Goodluck Jonathan by conceding defeat to the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), only few candidates in the just-concluded elections followed suit. Nigerian politicians hardly concede defeat after losing even in a credible election. This brings to mind the case of a former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who conceded defeat to Governor Ayodele Fayose but whose party, the All Progressives Congress, went back to court to challenge the result of the election.

Likewise, defeated candidates in the 2015 general elections who felt that they were deprived of victory have headed to the various state election petition tribunals to contest the outcome of the polls. In their opinion, the opponents connived with the Independent National Electoral Commission to rob them of victory. They therefore vowed to retrieve the mandate at the election petition tribunal – a legal entity established by law to adjudicate on election matters.

The electoral process in Abia State was said to have been marred with controversies following alleged cancelling and reversing of results in three local government areas in the state by INEC officials.

The All Progressive Grand Alliance governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, who lost to the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, rejected the result of the election declared by INEC. He had told his supporters to remain calm and assured them that he would get justice at the tribunal.

He had said, “Election has come and gone but the battle has just started. Evil cannot prevail over good but if it seems to prevail, it is only for a while.

“Weeping can only endure for a night, joy comes in the morning. We will not resort to brigandage because two wrongs cannot make a right.”

APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Ume, echoed Otti’s dissatisfaction with the election result.

He said, “APGA rejects the result of the poll as announced not because we cannot lose elections. We can accept losing an election through a credible process. We won the election clearly but our mandate was stolen. Accordingly, we will not resort to self help; we will challenge the result at the tribunal.’’

The APGA governorship candidate in Zamfara State, Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, also said that the April 11 election in the state was characterised by fraud. In a petition filed at the election tribunal in Gusau, the state capital, Shinkafi asked to be allowed to inspect all the relevant materials, including voters’ registers, card readers, incident forms, ballot papers and ballot boxes used for the conduct of the poll. The APGA candidate was defeated by Abdulaziz Yari of the APC.

The APC governorship candidate in Taraba State, Senator Aisha Alhassan, described the result of the election in the state as a daylight robbery.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/at-tribunals-battle-continues-for-politicians/

Umeh is leading Otti down a path of perdition.
Until he scams all the money from Otti, Umeh won't let him be.
Otti is the cash cow for now, so all the "boys" will milk him to the maximum. Only problem is the mugu will never know until it is too late.

Let WikeD come and explain how he got 1million votes when card reader recorded less than 300,000 voters

mikhaildr:
Let WikeD come and explain how he got 1million votes when card reader recorded less than 300,000 voters

I hope buhari will explain how he got 15 million votes when the card readers show that less than 10 million Nigerians were accredited.

papaejima1:
Umeh is leading Otti down a path of perdition.
Until he scams all the money from Otti, Umeh won't let him be.
Otti is the cash cow for now, so all the "boys" will milk him to the maximum. Only problem is the mugu will never know until it is too late.

I feel pity for Otti, I wish he won that election.

Scambuster1:
I hope buhari will explain how he got 15 million votes when the card readers show that less than 10 million Nigerians were accredited.

That one mean say baba get 9.5million votes, while jona get less than 500k votes.
How u see am?