The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has rejected the outcome of the Tsanyawa/Ghari State Constituency re-run election in Kano State, accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of colluding with “unpatriotic politicians” to undermine the will of the people.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Chairman of the NNPP in Kano State, Hashimu Dungurawa, the party alleged that INEC acted outside its powers by declaring results at its headquarters in Kano rather than at the constituency collation centre.
“The manipulations orchestrated against our candidate in the Tsanyawa/Ghari re-run election cannot be condoned,” Dungurawa said. “This is unacceptable and a complete denial of the electorate’s rights to vote, after they came out massively and cast their votes largely for the NNPP candidate.”
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He accused INEC of canceling the results of the 10 polling units where the Court of Appeal had ordered a re-run, thereby reverting to the disputed results of the previous election.
“In ideal circumstances, elections are supposed to be declared at the collation centre within the constituency, but INEC decided to make the declaration at its headquarters in Kano. This gave room for unpatriotic politicians to connive with INEC and cancel all the polling units in contention,” the NNPP chairman stated.
Dungurawa also insisted that only presiding officers at polling units have the legal authority to cancel election results.
“Moreover, all presiding officers at the Tsanyawa/Ghari polling units had already signed their results at their respective collation centres. Only presiding officers have the power to cancel elections, not INEC headquarters,” he said.
The party, however, commended the conduct of the Shanono/Bagwai bye-election, where its candidate, Ali Alhassan, emerged victorious.
“Credible elections were held in Shanono/Bagwai, and if not because the results were declared at the constituency collation centres, the APC might have attempted to change the narratives. We appreciate the role of the constituents and other stakeholders, particularly the security agencies, who provided an enabling environment for peaceful elections,” Dungurawa added.
He further assured supporters that the NNPP would continue to resist what he described as “injustice, favoritism, and election manipulations.”
“NNPP as a party will continue to fight against anybody who feels he can use federal might to disenfranchise the good people of Kano State,” he declared.
The statement concluded with a note of gratitude to party loyalists.
“We salute the courage of our people who stood with us and came out massively to vote for the NNPP candidates in all the re-run and bye-elections,” Dungurawa said.