The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Saturday rerun election for Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, Abdulmumin Jibrin has accepted the outcome of the poll.
Jibrin congratulated his opponent Aliyu Datti-Ahmed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who was returned elected and urged his successor to continue from where he started about a decade ago and has now come to an end.
The former Chairman House Committee on Appropriation said he look forward to working closely with Datti-Ahmed and giving him whatever cooperation and assistance to settle down in his new role of representing their people.
Jibrin declared that he has no intention to file petition against his opponent’s declaration as winner as it was time to move on even as he has strong reservations about the outcome of the election.
He faulted INEC for declaring his opponent the winner despite the disruption of the polls, falsification of results and other irregularities that characterized the exercise.
The one time Chairman House Committee on Finance in statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday said he won the election clearly but his mandate was stolen.
“The Kiru/Bebeji re-run election was held on Saturday 25th January, 2020 as scheduled. My constituents came out en mass to exercise their civic responsibility but were denied their franchise to vote the candidate and party of their choice through the application of maximum force in all the wards of our constituency except my home town of Kofa, Bebeji that proved impenetrable. We know we won the election fairy and squarely but our mandate was stolen.
“In many units, elections never took place. The ballot boxes were diverted but scores were miraculously entered. The violence, thuggery and rigging that took place have been carefully documented, at least for posterity. However, INEC has announced my opponent as the winner of the election.
“Police, other security agencies and voters can bear witness to the fact that the electoral umpire announced the result not because my opponent had scored the majority of lawful votes. Iam sure those of them saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a free and fair election but aided and abated this grave injustice against our people will be eternally trailed by the guilt of their conscience and await the ultimate judgement of God”.
He however, thanked the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, National Chairman of APC, Governor and Government of Kano State, Chairman of Governors forum, his colleagues in the 7th, 8th, and 9th House and other leaders at the federal and state level for their intervention and support during the election.
“May I also specially and once again thank my Governor, our party leadership at the state level and members of our party in Kano for their support.
“I thank my constituents who are still recovering from the trauma of what can best be described as a violent war against them, for giving me the opportunity to represent them on three occasions and the love and support they have showed me over the years.
“I will continue to support the progress and development of my party, the APC both at the national and state levels and my constituency and constituents in my personal capacity as I have always done before I became an elected Representative nine years ago”, Jibrin assured.
James Kwen, Abuja
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