Acting President Yemi Osinbajo will still be the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election, the Presidency has said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed this in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
Shehu said the victories recorded by the ruling All Progressives Congress in legislative elections held in three states over the weekend are indications that victory is certain for the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket in 2019.
The APC candidates won senatorial elections in Katsina and Bauchi states and also won one of the House of Representatives seats in Kogi State, but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the bye election for State House of Assembly seat in Cross River State.
The Presidential spokesman accused the opposition PDP of not carrying out its actions according to democratic tenets, saying the party is acting in militant manner. The APC also boasted that its “hat trick” victories in last weekend’s National Assembly bye-election signals Nigerian’s endorsement of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration ahead of the next elections.
In its first formal reaction to the outcome of the elections, APC noted that since assuming office, President Buhari has demonstrated political will and “remains solidly committed to the task of building a new Nigeria in line with the Change Agenda we promised to the electorate and the progressive ideals we stand for”.
According to the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Yekini Nabena, “the All Progressives Congress (APC) hat-trick victories following weekend’s bye-elections for the Katsina North; Bauchi South Senatorial seats and the Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency House of Representatives seat has again powerfully demonstrated the confidence and trust by our people in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration”.
While the ruling party thanked the electorate for coming out en masse to vote for its candidates in the weekend bye-elections, APC also congratulated its flag-bearers, Hon. Ahmed Babba-Kaita (Katsina); Hon. Lawal Yahaya Gumau (Bauchi) and Haruna Isa (Kogi) on their victories.
It as a political party, it remains genuinely committed to address Nigeria’s challenges, reconcile legitimately aggrieved interests and emerge as a more united and stronger political fighting force as it faces the general elections in 2019.
“Like every other country, we have our challenges, but they are surmountable. We have an administration working day and night to surmount them and put the country on the right pedestal. With the continued cooperation and support of Nigerians, we have good reason to look forward to the future with great hope.”
But the PDP has rejected the result of the Bauchi South senatorial election held on Saturday.
The PDP candidate, Ladan Salihu, was declared runner-up in the election with 50,256 votes.
The INEC had on Sunday declared the candidate of the APC, Yahaya Gumau, winner of the election with 119, 489 votes.
Gumau, a serving member of the House of Representatives, won in six out of the seven local government that make up Bauchi South Senatorial District, while Salihu won in one.
Most of the local government returning officer reported mass cancelation of votes which they said was occasioned by various shades of electoral frauds. About 68, 000 votes were cancelled in various polling units where elections were conducted.
The PDP said the election was “the most scandalous ever in the history of Bauchi State and Bauchi South in particular.”
The party also alleged collusion between security agents, INEC officials and those of the state government to rig the election.
This position was, however, countered by a coalition of 25 other opposition parties which described the exercise as one of the most peaceful and credible elections ever conducted in the State. The coalition went further to congratulate the winner, urging him to be a good ambassador of the people of Bauchi.
Most of the parties that commended the election did not take part in it. Only nine political parties took part in the election.
Addressing a press conference at the party secretariat in Bauchi on Monday, the State Chairman of PDP, Hamza Akuyam, said the by-election was an enactment of what the State government scripted, and rehearsed over a long period of time.
“The Bauchi State Government has perfected a script on the art and science of election rigging,” said Akuyam.
“This was carefully rehearsed and executed with active participation of law enforcement agencies and officials of the INEC.”
He alleged widespread vote buying during the exercise, alleging that “APC-led government officials openly lured citizens with cash for their votes.”
“Votes were sold for anything between N100 up to N5,000 – simply put, the ballot paper became the most sought after commodity in the zone during the exercise.
“Bauchi State government colluded with the voting clerks and other electoral officers to stash ballot boxes with excess ballot papers only to turn around and cancel votes from the same boxes, then blame dubious card readers and over-voting.
“The social media is awash with damning revelations, scandalous videos and pictures of rigging as captured. The most shocking part of it is that the officials of the APC-led government in the state showed no respect for the law or the rights of the voters.”
“This is the first time in our democratic history that over 80,000 votes were cancelled in an election where only 256,763 were cast.
“We also have evidence that card readers were also not used in the larger part of Toro local government; which explained the massive number of votes secured by the APC compared to Bauchi which has more centers and registered voters.
“It is also regrettable that the state office of the INEC became theatre of electoral malpractice and manipulation where figures were scandalously re-jigged to favour the APC.”
On their part, the coalition of 25 opposition parties also granted a press conference at about the same time as the PDP was having its own. The coalition shared a different view of what transpired during the election.