Rabiu Omaku
Wise men says is never over until is over, as aged women in Nasarawa State has taken over the street of Lafia the State, Akwanga and Karu Local Governments protesting the alleged manipulation of Governorship election in the State.
Multitude of aged women who are mostly supporters of the opposition political party The People’s Democratic Party removed from the State Secretariat of the PDP stormed the State headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission expressing grief over the outcome of the Gubernatorial election.
The women who are seen carrying placards with different inscriptions are urging the Nasarawa State Resident Electoral Commission to declare the Governorship election inconclusive due to anomalies ranging from cancellation of result sheets to other anomalies in the State capital.
Also on Friday scores of aged women storm the street of Akwanga, The Local Government of the State Governor Engineer Abdullahi Sule protesting the outcome of the Governorship election.
In the same vein Women in Karu, The gateway to the Federal Capital Territory takes over the federal highway causing untold hardship to motorists plying the route, the aged women were seen half naked matching along the highway.
In Karu Local Government, Ombugadu Support coalition commences seven days of peaceful protests against the outcome of the Governorship election held in the state on March 18, 2023.
Mr. Isaac Owoicho, convener of the Coalition made this known in Karu on Thursday on the first day of the peaceful protests.
Since the declaration of the results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), supporters of the PDP candidate have carried out peaceful protests in different parts of the state demanding for the declaration of Ombugadu as the authentic winner of the election.
Speaking to newsmen, Owoicho said the protests which will go on for seven days non-stop is a protest against the decision of INEC to declare Governor Sule as the winner of the election held in the state on March 18 which according to him was won overwhelmingly by Ombugadu.
He said the action of INEC which has allegedly deprived the electorate of their will, intentions, and aspirations will invariably affect generations of unborn children negatively who according to him will be born into a society of bad governance and injustice.
“Our grievance is one, the deprivation of our principal from being declared as the winner of the election because to the best of our knowledge and based on our collation and statistics, PDP won the election clearly.
“So INEC hijacked our mandate and gave it to the wrong person. So we are asking INEC through these peaceful protests to give us back our mandate because that is the only way through which we can believe there is a nation,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Job Daniel, Co-Convener of the Coalition said the protests aims to highlight the irregularities that marred the election in the hope that INEC will revisit the outcome of the election and make corrections where mistakes where made.
“We are confident that the declaration on Monday, March 20th declaring Governor Abdullahi Sule as the winner of the 2023 Governorship election in Nasarawa state was an arrangement, a conspiracy and unacceptable to the people of Nasarawa state.
“We are going to be here for the next seven days to register our grievances to the world and to the people of Nasarawa state and Nigeria that we are not satisfied with the declaration of Governor Sule as winner of this year election,” he added.
Mr Chindo Allahyayi, a PDP stakeholder in Karu local government area who is also part of the protesters assures that the protests will be peaceful and organized so as to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the situation to cause mayhem in the area.
“In as long as we are aggrieved, we still love our state and we love peace. We are peace loving people and that is the reason why we are following it logically and peacefully,” he said.
He then called on INEC to take action over the alleged injustice done to the PDP Governorship candidate by visiting the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal to extract the results uploaded on the portal so as to see what the true reflection of Nasarawa is and whom they truly vote for.
“The new Electoral Act of INEC as amended in 2022 is clearly written that within seven days of declaration of results, INEC can as well reverse their decision. Therefore, they should check it and see it clearly.
“We have given them instances of some wards where results were inflated, practically inflated not in accordance with what was obtained from the various polling units.
“We want to leave a healthy society for our own children, our grandchildren and those unborn so that tomorrow they will come and be proud to be Nigerians. We are not doing it because of ourselves. We are doing it because we want to leave a healthy society,” he said.
The protesters who went around New Nyanya community had placards with inscriptions such as: “We say no to election manipulation”, “INEC has compromised the electoral process, restore our democracy”, and “Save our democracy in Nasarawa state” among others.
