The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has vowed to challenge the victory of Sheriff Oborevwori the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in court.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had on Monday, March 20 declared Oborevwori as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.
Omo-Agege described his opponent’s victory as “fraudulent, damning and daring for it to be acceptable in any decent society”.
According to the state’s Returning Officer, Professor Georgewill Abraham, PDP’s Oborevwori polled 360,234 votes; APC’s Omo-Agege, 240,229 and LP’s Ken Pela, 48,047.
Reacting to the declaration by INEC, Omo-Agege in a statement released by Sunny Areh, his Chief Press Secretary, said the declaration was made despite the myriad of infractions and acts of impunity on the part of PDP in the course of the election. He noted that the infractions were brought to the attention of INEC with ‘incontrovertible proof’. Omo-Agege said the election was characterised by massive fraud, unprecedented vote buying and voter suppression perpetrated by the PDP.
“Most of those infractions are on the public domain and known to INEC officials and the security agencies involved in superintending the election. In the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, the results pointed to an unequivocal rejection of the PDP. Of the three senatorial zones in the state, APC won two, while PDP controversially edged out the Labour Party in the Delta North Senate race. It was an unadulterated verdict of Deltans on how they have fared under 24 years of governance of their state by PDP.
“On the basis of the factors listed and more that will come later, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, governorship candidate of the APC in Delta State as well as the leadership of the party, unequivocally reject the declaration by INEC of Sheriff Oborevwori of the PDP as winner of the March 18 governorship election. We will challenge this fraudulent result using all legal means. As a democrat and Deputy President of the Senate, Omo-Agege will explore all lawful avenues to reclaim the mandate freely given to him by the good people of Delta State,” he said.
He urged his supporters and APC faithful to be calm, assuring them that PDP’s “pyrrhic celebration of a stolen mandate will be short-lived,” and he will be sworn in as governor on May 29.
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