By Ishaya Ibrahim
Protest against the declaration of Governor Abdullahi Sule as the winner of the Nasarawa state governorship election, has continued 19 days after the vote.
Recall that after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Sule re-elected on March 20, many women in the state took to the streets topless.
The protest continued daily in Lafia, the state capital, with the women adjusting to dressing in all black attire.
Youths later joined the women in the protest, followed by senior secondary school students who are the latest in those alleging that the declaration of Governor Sule was a daylight robbery. This is despite banning protests by the police command in Nasarawa on Sunday, March 26.
The police had said: “The Nasarawa State Police Command wishes to inform the general public that all forms of protest have been banned throughout the state. Therefore, all proposed protests under any guise are hereby prohibited.”
The people defied the police and continued with the protest almost on daily basis.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Sule as the winner of the governorship election in Nasarawa State on March 20.
Prof Ishaya Tanko, INEC State Collation Officer and Returning Officer made the declaration in Lafia at the Nasarawa State Collation Centre.
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The INEC returning officer said that the APC candidate polled a total of 347, 209 votes to defeat his closest opponent David Ombugadu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 283, 016 votes.
But the PDP state Chairman, Francis Orogu, said they were outrageously rigged out in the governorship poll.
He said: “Our agent in Nasarawa Council was offered N15 million to compromise the result, but he rejected it, and, yet, they still manipulated the result to suit them. We will do the needful to regain the people’s mandate.”