Women, youths, and other residents of Nasarawa State have pledged to persist with their demonstrations.
Naija News understands that the protesters seek justice for those who supported the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship candidate, David Ombugadu, in the March 18, 2023 election.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the PDP of inciting political, ethnic, and religious unrest in the state.
This accusation comes in the wake of protests against the Court of Appeal’s decision in Abuja, which validated the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule.
A protester, Sarah Danjuma, expressed the group’s determination to continue their fight for justice during a media interaction following a protest in Lafia on Wednesday.
She claimed that the residents’ votes were unfairly taken by state politicians.
She said, “As you can see, the majority of us gathered here are widows, aged women, youths and other concerned citizens who are worried by the high level of political slavery in the state.
“We did not cast our votes in the March 18 governorship election for Abdullahi Sule, but for David Ombugadu.
“We are protesting to demand the reversal of the appeal court’s judgment which declared Sule as the governor. No political party is sponsoring us, not even the PDP.
“Most of us here always take our farm produce to the market to sell so that we can get money to buy food and water during the protests. Some of us who have vehicles and motorcycles usually bring them to help in conveying people to the protest locations and back to our homes daily.
“So, if the APC people in the state said we are being sponsored by the PDP to protest the injustice done to David Ombugadu, they are totally wrong on that assumption. We are standing for Ombugadu and nothing else. Anytime you see us in the PDP secretariat, it is because we are in solidarity with our candidate whose mandate has been stolen.
“How can anyone overlook the irregularities during the March 18 governorship election under the guise of technicalities in Gayam and Chiroma wards in Lafia Local Government Area?
“The total number of accredited voters in Gayam ward according to INEC was about 13,000. Then in the result of that election, 33,000 votes were given to the APC alone by INEC. This is traumatising, and that is the point we are making.
“Secondly in the Chiroma ward, the number of accredited voters according to INEC’s record is 21,000, but INEC announced 59,000 votes solely for the APC. Who will know all these and just fold his or her hands in a democratic system?
“We just want the right thing to be done. We have been called all kinds of names by the ruling APC. They said we were prostitutes. They said we were being paid to go nude. They said we were shameless and irresponsible.
“We are appealing to the justices to carefully look at the results of the governorship election in the state. They should not pass judgment in the name of technicalities, but it should be based on the merit of the matter.”
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