Useni Rejects Lalong’s Victory, Heads For Tribunal

Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Plateau State, Jeremiah Useni, has rejected the results of the governorship polls conducted in the state on March 9 and 23, 2019 in which the candidate of the All Progressives Congress and incumbent governor of the state, Simon Lalong, emerged victorious

The PDP candidate’s rejection of the poll results came a few hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Mr. Lalong winner of the election on Sunday

INEC Returning Officer in the state, Prof. Richard Kimbir, who announced the results after the supplementary poll held on Saturday, said that Mr. Lalong polled a total of 595,582 votes to defeat 23 other candidates, including the PDP standard-bearer, Jeremiah Useni, who scored 546,813.

But Useni, who addressed a Press conference in Jos on Sunday, rejected the announcement, describing it as “an injustice and a temporary setback.”

According to him, the results of the governorship election as announced by INEC did not reflect the voting pattern of the people whom he claimed voted for him “massively” at the poll.

The PDP candidate said that he and his party had decided to head to the tribunal to reclaim the mandate freely given to them by the people

He said, “My team and I have gone through both the official results released by INEC and the documents submitted by our own field staff.

“We have every reason to believe that justice has not been done to our people in this election because there was massive rigging and electoral shortcomings.

“After due consultation, I hereby state that the results announced by INEC is not acceptable to us. Consequently, we have requested our legal team to activate all the due processes to reclaim our cherished mandate at the tribunal and by the grace of God, we will overturn and recover the people’s mandate”

The PDP candidate thanked party members, stakeholders and supporters for their commitment, hard work and sacrifices throughout the election period and urged them to remain united and focused on the struggle until “the restoration agenda for the soul of Plateau State is achieved.”