The Nasarawa State chapter of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has rejected the outcome of the Nasarawa North Senatorial District by-election, calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to cancel the exercise over alleged electoral irregularities.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Danjuma Joseph, the NDC alleged that its logo was omitted from official election materials despite being a duly registered political party participating in the poll.
The party claimed that while a logo appeared on the ballot paper, it did not belong to the NDC, a development it said may have confused voters and negatively affected its performance in the election.
According to the statement, the party also observed that its logo was absent from the result sheets used during the election, while there was reportedly no provision for NDC agents to append their signatures at ward, local government and state collation levels.
“The logo printed on the ballot paper does not belong to our party, the NDC. This, we believe, is a deliberate attempt by INEC to mislead our supporters and undermine our participation,” the party alleged.
They further claimed that the logo used during the Nasarawa by-election differed from the party’s official symbol reportedly used by INEC in another by-election conducted in Enugu State on the same day.
Beyond concerns over party identification, the NDC alleged that several polling units experienced malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices, a situation it said undermined the credibility of the electoral process.
The party also alleged incidents of result manipulation and mutilation in favour of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), though it did not provide specific evidence to support the claim.
Citing the alleged irregularities, the NDC declared that it does not recognise the outcome of the election and would explore legal avenues to challenge the process.
“Given these irregularities, the NDC rejects the conduct of the by-election in Nasarawa North and will pursue legal options to protect our democratic rights and the will of our supporters,” the statement added.
The by-election was conducted to fill the vacant Nasarawa North Senatorial seat following the death of the district’s former representative, Senator Godiya Akwashiki.
INEC has yet to respond to the allegations raised by the NDC as of the time of filing this report.
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