The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State yesterday rejected the result of the Niger East senatorial bye-election, which gave victory to the candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, in a reaction in Minna, said the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the early hours of yesterday was ‘unacceptable’ to the party.

According to him; “The party is currently studying the result and will make its position known, but for now the result is unacceptable. “We (APC) are yet to take a decision on the outcome of the bye-election, all I know for now is that the result announced by INEC is not acceptable; and in due course the official position of the party will be announced.

“The next line of action on the bye-election will be taken after consultations at the state level. We are also in touch with the national headquarters of the party and our position will be made known soon,” he said.

Vatsa also condemned the statement credited to Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who said: “The victory for PDP was a reflection of the confidence the people have in the party when he knew that the conduct of the election contravened the Electoral Act.

“It is a known fact that the outcome of the by-election was a product of rigging between the PDP and INEC. It took a party that has been in power for over 15 years to use money to induce, use fake security agents to intimidate the electorate and used INEC to doctor the results to ‘win’ a bye-election “The governor has no moral right to speak, because he lost the last byeelection in his unit, ward and local government. In fact Governor Aliyu has never won any election in his local government, ward and unit,” he said.

Meanwhile, Governor Aliyu yesterday dedicated the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the bye-election to the people. Aliyu, who made this known in Minna, said the victory of Dr. Shem Nuhu Zagbayi, over the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, David Umaru, is a reflection of the confidence the people have in the party.

He expressed satisfaction over the conduct and outcome of the election, saying that despite the use of thugs, a level playing ground was the major characteristic of the entire process.