Zamfara re-rerun: Shinkafi calls for calm over election result

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Sani Shinkafi, has urged the people of Shinkafi Constituency in Zamfara State Northern Nigeria to remain calm over the outcome of the Saturday rerun election in the constituency.

Shinkafi made the call in a statement by his New Media Aide, Alhaji Yariman Ganuwa, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the APC rejected the declaration of Mustapha Shinkafi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election and would challenge the result in court.

He expressed confidence that the election would not stand legally and morally.

He claimed that the final result declared by the returning officer was a clear violation of the Electoral Act 2022, disregard for the rule of law and rape of democracy.

He alleged that it was a daylight robbery of the constitutional rights of the good people of Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

He recalled that in the result of the State House of Assembly of March 18, 2023, declared inconclusive by the courts, APC scored 13,154 votes, while PDP scored 12,914 votes.

Shinkafi said that there was a 204 margin in the votes before the court-ordered conduct of the rerun elections, where APC polled 809 votes and PDP scored 951 votes with a margin of 142 votes.

He said a summary of the total scores for the parties and their candidates when merged by the State House of Assembly returning officer was APC- 13,963 votes and PDP -13,865 votes, with a margin of 98 votes.

“The good people of Shinkafi Constituency should please remain calm. Another legal battle has just begun to reclaim our stolen mandate.

“Hon. Usman Shettima Mahmud Aliyu of APC remains the authentic winner of the election with the highest lawful votes.

“The ballot is sacrosanct. We are strongly determined to uphold and protect the integrity of the nation’s electoral process,” he said.

NAN