Candidates of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 7 local council election in Adamawa State have dismissed the election, insisting on Tuesday that election did not hold anywhere in the state.
Following the controversial Saturday election, results were announced Sunday evening to the effect that candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
The chairmen-elect were given certificates of return Monday morning and sworn in at separate events a few hours later.
Speaking, however, during a press conference at the state capital, Yola, on Tuesday morning, APC chairmanship and councillorship candidates for the election insisted that it did not take place.
The candidate in Jada LGA, Umar Hammajoda, who spoke for all the APC candidates, alleged that the body responsible for organising the election, Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC), scuttled it deliberately.
Reading from a text of the press briefing, Hammajoda said, “When electoral materials were released on 6th December, 2019 to the 21 local government areas, only 60 per cent of the required ballot papers were given and not a single result sheet was issued.
“Our returning officers waited in vain in all the 21 ADSIEC offices from 6 am to 6 pm on 7th December, the scheduled election date, but no result sheets were supplied.
“ADSIEC presiding officers, electoral officers and returning officers failed to turn up for the election at the 2,609 polling units of the state.”
The candidates added that ADSIEC, “by its acts of omission and commission, deliberately scuffled the council election it set out to conduct.”
Stressing that the December 7 council election was a charade, the APC candidates asserted, “Let it be known that no council election took place in all the 2,609 polling units of Adamawa State.”
They charged that the “purported declaration by ADSIEC and issuance of certificates of return to 21 chairmanship candidates of PDP and councillors as having won council election is gross injustice, violation of electoral law, an illegality and therefore unacceptable to us.”
The APC candidates pushed for outright cancellation of the election, adding, “Should this demand be disregarded, we call on the government of the federation not to disburse funds to these nonselective and therefore nondemocratic councils.”
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