Benue South: Onjeh rejects senatorial election results, heads to court
The All Progressives Congress, APC Senatorial Candidate for Benue South, Daniel Onjeh has rejected the results of Saturday’s National Assembly elections.
Onjeh in a statement issued and made available to our reporter on Wednesday, alleged that the results of the election were manipulated.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC declared the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Abba Morro winner of the election.
But Onjeh who earlier said he was studying the results to decide on his next line of action, claimed that he won the election but alleged that the Bi -modal Voter Accreditation System (B-VAS) was manipulated.
He vowed to challenge to process of the election at the Elections Petitions Tribunal.
The statement reads partly, “I wish to condemn and reject in its entirety, the outcome of the Saturday, 25th February 2023 Senatorial Election in Benue South in which I was the candidate of the APC, due to non-compliance with the extant laws purportedly guiding the electoral process, amid the many irregularities that characterised the collation and declaration of the results.
“From every indication, it was very clear to me that I actually won the election but the clandestine manipulations of one of my opponents and fifth columnists within my party, in collusion with some pliable INEC Officials, ensured that the results were upturned in favour of Sen. Abba Moro of the PDP, who was eventually declared the winner.
“With the signing into law of the Electoral Act 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari, and the subsequent introduction of the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (B-VAS) by INEC, a fresh hope was rekindled in the Nigerian electorate that the era of vote manipulations and other electoral malpractices was gone, but little did we know that our detractors and enemies of democracy have devised and perfected new strategies for rigging elections.
“For instance, we noticed that while INEC maintained the total number of accredited voters per Polling Unit in Benue South, they actually swapped the votes; thereby allocating the higher number of votes which I garnered in some Polling Units to their preferred highest bidder; and the lower votes to me.
“I wish to declare that I am challenging the results of the Saturday, February 25th Senatorial Election in Benue South at the Elections Petitions Tribunal.
“I am therefore putting INEC on notice, in order for the Commission to avail us of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of all relevant documents and the original record of the B-VAS for the Benue South polls before they re-configure the machines for the upcoming Gubernatorial Elections.
