The People’s Redemption Party (PRP) senatorial candidate, Iliyasu Ibrahim Gadu, has called for the immediate cancellation of the Taraba South senatorial district election in the state. PRP claims that the party logo was removed from ballot papers in Taraba and demands compensation.
He made the demand on Wednesday at a media parley in Jalingo and cited the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s failure to include the logo of his political party on the ballot papers as a major reason why the exercise should be canceled.
“I am calling on INEC to immediately cancel the purported Senate election which took place on Saturday, February 25th and organise a fresh one with my party’s logo included,” he stated while displaying the ballot papers before media personnel.
He said that even though the Party has concluded plans to sue the INEC leadership and demand compensation for the harm done to him and his party, INEC needed to fix similar problems before the upcoming governorship and state Assembly elections.
The candidate said that members of his party will go to great lengths to get justice.
He stated, “I could not think of any reason why INEC would exclude my party from participating in the senate election because all outstanding issues regarding my candidacy had been conclusively resolved between my Party and INEC and cleared the way for me to be a candidate for the senatorial election under PRP.” “I could not think of any reason why INEC would exclude my party from participating in the senate election”
He argued that the primary election that he won as the Party’s candidate for Southern Taraba was supervised by INEC and that the party was unable to upload his name to the INEC portal primarily due to technical issues with the INEC system.
The candidate stated that his party had submitted their names to INEC in a timely manner so that they could be uploaded to its portals for the 2023 elections. However, on election day, he discovered that INEC had removed his party, the PRP, from the ballot papers for the senatorial elections for which he was a legitimate candidate.
He argued that INEC broke electoral law by acting illegally, and he promised to seek compensation for the additional losses, including financial, emotional, and reputational harm, that the illegal act of INEC had caused him and his arty.
He is requesting that the election for the senatorial districts of Wukari, Ussa, Takum, Donga, and Ibi be canceled.
