Francis Sardauna in Katsina
Following the declaration of Governor Aminu Bello Masari as winner of the March 9th governorship election in Katsina state, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Yakubu Lado Danmarke, has vowed to reclaim what he described as his “stolen mandate” in the court.
Addressing newsmen at his residence in Kankara on the fallout of the election Monday, Danmarke said that the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) was a theft of the mandate given to him by the electorate.
INEC had on Monday morning declared Masari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner, having scored a total of 1,178,864 votes to thrash Danmarke of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who polled 488,621 votes during the exercise.
He said: “We rejected the result of the election because the Katsina people know what they voted for but the victory was upset down by some bad elements. From the beginning the election was going on well and around 3 to 4 o’clock all the reports we received we were leading by far.
“And from the result we have, the total people that cast their votes are not more than eight hundred thousand. So, we wonder where they found those results. It is really shocking. This is something that is unacceptable because our score was close to five hundred while theirs was two hundred and ninety something.
The PDP gubernatorial candidate warned the government of Katsina state and its alleged collaborators against “short-changing” the people of the state.
According to him, It is absolutely unacceptable for people in the rural areas to be prevented from exercising their franchise as they ought to, vowing to follow due process as required by law to retrieve his mandates.
“However, I am calling on our teeming supporters in the state to remain calm and obey law and order as we take legal action against the result”, he added.
