The All Progressives Congress was said to have congratulated David Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party on the victory in the Benue South rerun election. This comes, however, in contrast with the claim of Daniel Onjeh, the APC candidate, who called the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the elections inconclusive. Onjeh insisted that the number of votes cancelled was higher than the margin of win.
According to Premium Times, the APC had earlier congratulated Mark using its official Twitter account with a message posted four hours after the INEC declared Mark winner. “Congratulations to Senator David Mark, who has just been declared winner, Benue South Senatorial rerun election.” This message is currently missing on the handle. Edegbe Odemwingie, the assistance director of publicity at the APC headquarters, asked for time to revert with an official statement from the party on the matter.
Onjeh’s campaign staff said they were not aware of any official message of the APC congratulating Mark. Campaign spokesman Okpokwu Ogenyi said: “The people came out enmasse to vote for change but Mark colluded with INEC and security agencies to manipulate results,” Mr. Ogenyi said. “We won’t accept that. We are calling for the cancellation of results in Opoku, Agatu and Otukpo.”