The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governorship in Kaduna State’s 2019 general election on Tuesday, Isah Ashiru, filed an application for a recount of the votes cast during the March 9 poll.
Mr Ashiru’s counsel, Elisha Kurah, submitted the application to the tribunal led by I. M. Bako, which began the pre-hearing session in Kaduna on Tuesday.
However, Justice Bako adjourned the session until May 25 in order to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the other two respondents to respond to the PDP’s request for recounting votes.
Mr Kurah, who spoke to journalists shortly after the session was adjourned, urged the court to order the INEC to recount the votes cast during the election of the governorship.
“We filed a request that the votes cast during the election be recounted.
“It’s very crucial because we’re claiming — backed by the evidence we have — that most of the declared results were phantom votes.
“They were backed up by votes in the ballot boxes. So we want a complete recount of the votes cast in the governorship election.
“We are expecting that the results would show that the PDP actually won the election.
“But votes were just inflicted randomly just to make the APC have the semblance of winning,” Mr Kurah said.
Counsel to PDP, Ibrahim Bawa, told journalists that he also filed an application seeking that certain paragraphs of the respondents responses to our application be stroked out for lack of merit.
Meanwhile, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, Counsel to Gov Nasiru El-Rufai in a separate interview with journalists said “the petitioners of the PDP and its candidate, Isa Ashiru, have four highly contentious applications.
“And we intend to oppose the applications on their merit. And the tribunal has given us a new date for us to come and argue the applications. So, the matter is adjourned for hearing of all the pending applications.
“We have a preliminary objection that the petition is not competent. They (PDP and Ashiru) have an application that they want the tribunal to direct that the ballots be counted one after the other in open court, and we intend to oppose those applications.”
Mr Mustapha added: “The Electoral Act is in our favour, the Kaduna people have spoken, they picked Malam El-Rufai and nothing is going to change that.
“We are here to defend the mandate the people have given to the governor. We intend to convince the tribunal that the petition lacks merit and it should be dismissed.”
