The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is crying foul over and are accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of being ‘’overtly partisan’’ and surrendering its independence to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), by declaring governorship elections in states where the PDP was in clear lead as inconclusive.

The electoral body had declared governorship elections inconclusive in Plateau, Kano, Benue, Adamawa and Sokoto States.

Incidentally, except Plateau, the PDP is in the lead in the troubled states.

However, INEC has declared results in eight more states with the APC clinching victory in five, Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Zamfara and Nasarawa; while the PDP got Delta, Cross River and Imo.

This brings to 21, the number of results declared, 13 having been released on Sunday.

Collation of results was still ongoing last night in Bauchi. Processes in Rivers had been suspended indefinitely on Sunday following what INEC called widespread disruption of voting and collation of results by unauthorised persons.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, accused the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of overtly playing the script of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the APC.

He said the party had full intelligence of how INEC was acting on instructions from the federal government and the APC in orchestrating unwholesome situations and declaring already concluded governorship elections in Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Kano as well as other states as inconclusive, immediately it becomes obvious that the PDP was set to win those states.

The main opposition party called on its leaders, teeming members and lovers of democracy in the affected states to immediately commence a march to INEC offices and use all legitimate means to protect the party’s mandate as freely given by the people at the polling units across the nation.
Ologbondiyan said: “Under Prof. Yakubu, INEC has become overtly partisan, surrendered its independence to the APC and carries on as a compromised umpire with obnoxious impunity, thereby sending signals of being heavily compromised by the APC to alter results for its candidates.

“This also informs the foisting of unexplainable stoppage and delays in the announcement of already collated results in other states where the PDP is clearly leading the race, from the results so far declared at the polling units.

“Our party has also been informed of how INEC is now seeking ways to use the situation to aid the APC to alter the results and announce APC candidates as winners in the elections clearly led by the PDP just as it did in the 2018 Osun State governorship election.

“In some of the states like Rivers, the PDP has information of plots by APC to leverage on the declaration by INEC to unleash more violence in the state and push for isolated election where they can bring in more security forces to concentrate on forcefully taking over the state.”

Ologbondiyan stressed that today, majority of Nigerians and the global democratic institutions are questioning the state of the country’s democracy and electoral processes, which have been under siege under the supervision of President Buhari and INEC chairman.

The PDP therefore cautioned Yakubu and INEC to perish the thoughts of altering any figures for the APC and to immediately announce the winning results in the states and others where its candidates clearly won, going by the results already declared at the polling units, wards and local government collation, adding that anything short of this would attract the legitimate wrath of the people.