Natasha Akpoti petitions INEC, rejects Kogi Central senatorial election result
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the Kogi Central senatorial poll held on February 25, has rejected the election outcome.
In a petition dated March 1, 2023, addressed to INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan asked the electoral umpire to review the results of the hotly contested senatorial district election that saw Abubakar Sadiku-Ohere of the All Progressives Congress win the election.
The PDP candidate alleged that thugs manipulated the process, doctored figures, cancelled polling units where she won, and invaded many polling units.
She also claimed in the petition that thugs chased away voters and snatched ballot boxes, which were eventually thumb-printed in a private residence, during the voting process in Okene council, which was highly manipulated in collaboration with electoral officials.
Ms Akpoti-Uduaghan also claimed that the INEC incorrectly entered voting figures during the election, awarding votes intended for the PDP to the APC, receiving 933 votes in error.
“In the said election, Engr Abubakar Sadiku Ohere, the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), was wrongly returned with 52,132 votes and declared the winner of the election in the senatorial district while our client was wrongly credited with 51,763 votes,” stated the petition.
It added, “What ought to have been recorded for APC is only 202 votes and the excess manipulative, and fictitious 933 votes would not have formed part of the election results in the polling units while PDP would have earned 1,073 as against the 77 votes recorded for our client’s favour.”
The petition mentioned that she would have won the election if the total votes had been accurately recorded and inputted.
On Tuesday, Mr Sadiku-Ohere of the APC was declared the winner of the Kogi Central senatorial race, defeating Ms Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Rotimi Ajayi, the INEC returning officer for Kogi Central, announced the results in Okene, stating that Mr Sadiku-Ohere got 52,132 votes to Natasha’s 51,763 votes to win the senatorial seat, a difference of 369 votes.
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