Wednesday September 6, 2017
Former Garissa Governor Nathif Jama yesterday filed a petition challenging the election of his successor Ali Korane.
According to IEBC results, Jama who was defending his seat in last month's general election on a Wiper party ticket lost to Korane of Jubilee by about 4, 000 votes.
Jama garnered 55,156 votes against Korane's 59,871.
While addressing the press outside the Garissa law courts where he filed his petition, Jama described the election as a sham saying it was marred with massive irregularities.
He exuded confidence that the court will cancel the election of his competitor.
"We are done with filing the case and the clock has started ticking. Soon, we will win back our seat . We are confident we will win this case and the subsequent by-election,” said Jama who was flanked by his lawyer Omwanza Ombati and hundreds of supporters.
“I want to urge the residents of Garissa to be patient. We won the election but what took place was a fraud and diversion of the will of the people in the most dubious manner,” he added.
Contacted on phone, Governor Korane said he was ready to face Nathif in court saying that he bit him ‘fair and squire’.
During the announcement of the results there was tension before and after the announcement Garissa national library services which served as the county tallying centers.
And at one time, Nathif tried to stop the county RO Antony Njoroge from declaring the final results until all the results were in. the official however went ahead and announced Korane as the winner before being whisked away by heavily armed security officers.