Candidates of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 7 local council election in Adamawa State have dismissed the election, insisting on Tuesday that election did not hold anywhere in the state.
They insisted at a press briefing in the state capital, Yola, on Tuesday that the election did not take place.
“Let it be known that no council election took place in all the 2,609 polling units of Adamawa State,” the APC candidates said through one of their own, Umar Hammajoda who was the candidate for Jada Local Government Council.
The Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) which organised the December 7 election had announced the results on Sunday evening, indicating that candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
The chairmen-elect received their certificates of return Monday morning and sworn in almost immediately.
Speaking during the press conference at the APC state Secretariat on Tuesday, the APC candidates said ADSIEC deliberately scuttled the election.
Umar Hammajoda who read the text of the press briefing, said, “When electoral materials were released on 6th December, 2019 to the 21 local government areas, only 60 percent of the required ballot papers were given and not a single result sheet was issued.
“Our returning officers waited in vain in all the 21 ADSIEC offices from 6 am to 6pm on 7th December, the scheduled election date, but no result sheets were supplied.
“ADSIEC presiding officers, electoral officers and returning officers failed to turn up for the election at the 2,609 polling units of the state.
By its acts of omission and commission, deliberately scuffled the council election it set out to conduct.”
The candidates asserted that the “purported declaration by ADSIEC and issuance of certificates of return to 21 chairmanship candidates of PDP and councillors as having won council election is gross injustice, violation of electoral law, an illegality and therefore unacceptable to us.”
The APC candidates urged outright cancellation of the election.
“Should this demand be disregarded, we call on the government of the federation not to disburse funds to these nonselective and therefore nondemocratic councils,” they said.