The member representing Akamkpa/Biase federal constituency and the Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for the southern senatorial district, Hon Daniel Asuquo, has expressed dissatisfaction at the outcome of the National Assembly (NASS) in Cross River, saying that he is in court to reclaim the people’s stolen mandate.
Speaking with newsmen in Calabar recently, Asuquo said he wouldn’t have bothered going to the tribunal if he had lost the election on fairgrounds, but having analysed the entire results across the polling units he and his team observed several electoral malpractices which were against the 2022 Electoral Act as amended and INEC electoral guidelines.
Asuquo, who was a member of the National Assembly constitutional amendments and the Electoral Act committees as amended, argued that the election processes that led to the pronouncement of APC as the winner (Mr Asuquo Ekpenyong Jr) of the senatorial election was marred with alleged glaring irregularities, which would be proven in the court.
According to him, “For the records, at some point, we had formed an alliance with the APC because we believe in equity, fairness and justice, and I make bold to say that we were part of the process that saw to the victory of the gubernatorial candidate and the most of the APC candidates on the March 18th elections”.
“Therefore, I will follow the tribunal processes to the end to ensure that the people’s stolen mandate is recovered because the process was manipulated against the wishes of the people. This is the major reason we are in court and the tribunal is part of the electioneering processes to recover this.
“In fact, the court is that final stage so we will engage the process to the end. I am doing this not because of myself, but because of the people’s mandate that has been stolen. The people know who they voted for and it would be unfair for me to allow their efforts and labour to be stolen without following the constitutional avenue in fighting for them.”
Asuquo is a two-time member of the Lower Chamber of the NASS and contested the governorship primaries in PDP before defecting to LP where he emerged as the southern senatorial candidate for February 25 Presidential and NASS elections.
Source: The Sun
