The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kwara State has rejected the rulings of the Local Government Election Petition Tribunals on the petitions filed in respect of the September 21, 2024 election in Ilorin South, Patigi, and Offa council areas.
PDP alleged that the rulings were “blatantly compromised and failed to meet the minimum moral and legal standards expected of a free, fair, and credible democratic process.”
The party’s chairmanship candidate in Ilorin south, Muhammed Ismail aka Maigida, and his councillorship candidates had filed separate petitions challenging the outcome of the said elections before an election petition tribunal.
Reacting to the tribunal ruling, Ismail told newsmen that he was highly disappointed with the turn of events in the face of admittance by both the APC candidates’ legal counsels and the damning facts at the PDP disposal.
According to him, “we have copies of the election result as announced and signed by the KWASIEC officials indicating that we won eight of the nine wards where the said elections were held in Ilorin South while the APC candidate won just one since elections were not held in the remaining two wards.
“Even the candidate and his legal counsel admitted the fact that I won. Certainly, the judgement did not reflect the reality of what happened on September 24, 2025.”
PDP spokesman in Kwara, Olusegun Adewara, in a statement, expressed “profound disappointment with the Tribunal’s verdicts,” noting that the elections were marred by deliberate disenfranchisement of over 85 per cent of voters in all the 16 Local Governments.
Adewara said: “in few areas where elections were held, PDP’s candidates secured overwhelming votes that were sorted, counted and announced by respective Electoral officials.
“However, original election results were discarded while the state’s electoral umpire (KWASIEC) criminally manufactured another at the Government House and imposed on the people to favor candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“While we hold the judiciary in high esteem and will continue to respect judicial pronouncements, we strongly disagree with the Tribunal’s rulings on Ilorin South, Patigi, and Offa. As presented credible, incontrovertible evidence clearly demonstrated the electoral fraud perpetrated by Gov. Abdulrahman-led APC administration in connivance with the KWSIEC. It is deeply troubling that these compelling facts were disregarded on mere technicalities.”
He, however, urged PDP loyalists across the board to remain calm and steadfast, describing the ruling as “a temporary setback,” assuring them that “those who sit on stolen mandates will continue to be challenged, not only by our party but even by their own consciences.”
