Nigeria’s leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to resign his chairmanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for allegedly rigging the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
It said the call followed further review of the “the widely-condemned infractions, brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results”.
The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba declared that INEC subverted the will of Nigerians in the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
In a statement on Friday, the PDP also condemned “the latest scheme” by the commision to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS ahead of the state polls.
The party said that NEC’s insistence was meant to “erase and destroy evidence of its manipulation of the presidential election, denying Nigerians and parties” access to relevant information.
Its spokesperson alleged that Yakubu “was compromised to rig the election by brazenly violating the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as well as INEC’s Regulations, Guidelines and Manual issued for the election”.
Also, the PDP accused the commission of “sabotaging the uploading and transmission of results directly from Polling Units to give room for alteration and switching of election results across the nation in favour of the APC”.
Ologunagba said what transpired has been “abundantly exposed” in the pictorial and video evidence of compromised results sheets in many states,
The former lawmaker alleged that Yakubu rushed to announce and declare manipulated results that were not transmitted directly from the units to INEC’s Server/Website.
Ologunagba accused INEC of deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 64 (4) (a) and (b), 64 (6) (a)-(d), and 65 (1) (c) of the Electoral Act. 2022.
He said Section 64 (4) (a) and (b) expressly require the Chairman as the Chief Returning Officer to announce only results that were transmitted directly from PUs.
Ologunagba alleged that the election results were mutilated, as the commission deliberately refused to transmit polling units results as provided by the Electoral Act.
He maintained that the INEC Chairman’s exit will be the first step to rebuilding confidence in the electoral body.
Ologunagba also asked the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (INEC) to commence an investigation of the INEC Chairman.
“Prof. Yakubu is not only allegedly culpable of serious electoral offence but also betrayed the trust, confidence and hope Nigerians reposed in him and INEC to deliver a free, fair and credible election,” the statement reads.
It added that the chairman’s continued stay in office stains the integrity of the commission, assaults the credibility of the electoral process, the sensibility of Nigerians and the international community.
The PDP advised citizens to remain calm “but very alert” as it had taken steps to retrieve the mandate of its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar at the tribunal.
The first post-election statement issued by the International Republican Institute, IRI, and the National Democratic Institute, NDI, joint mission declared INEC lacked transparency during the elections.
In a keen contest, PDP presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar lost to Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
While Atiku polled 6,984,520 votes to come second in the race, Tinubu came out top in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726.
Also, Mr Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.
Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the outcome of the election, vowing to challenge the result in court.
Both the PDP and LP had at a joint press conference addressed by their vice presidential candidates in Abuja on Tuesday, also demanded the cancellation of the presidential election results announced by INEC in Abuja.
However, in a swift response, INEC had dismissed the calls, saying Yakubu would not resign and that aggrieved persons should channel their grievances according to the electoral laws.
Agents of the PDP and the LP had walked out of the national collation centre in Abuja on Monday when the INEC chairman insisted the process would continue even though the commission has yet to upload the results of all polling units on the INEC online portal, IReV.
On Tuesday, at a joint press conference, the PDP and LP called on the electoral commission to suspend the ongoing collation of results and cancel the elections.
They accused the commission of compromise and asked Yakubu to step down from his position as the chief of the electoral umpire for another person to conduct the elections.
But INEC spokesman Mr Oyekanmi said there are procedures for addressing grievances and that asking the chairman to step down is not one of them.
In a short statement, he said the call for the INEC Chairman’s resignation was misplaced.
He also dismissed allegations that the INEC Chairman allocated scores to parties, saying it is unfounded and irresponsible.
“At the same time, contrary to the insinuation by both parties, results emanating from the states point to a free, fair and credible process,” he said.
“There are laid down procedures for aggrieved parties or candidates to follow when they are dissatisfied about the outcome of an election. Such procedures do not include calling on the INEC Chairman to resign or for the election to be cancelled.
“To be sure, aggrieved parties are free to approach the courts to ventilate their concerns and wait for the matter to be resolved. Making inciting comments capable of causing violence or unrest is unacceptable.
“The 2023 General Election processes are in their final stages of completion. It is only fair for aggrieved parties to allow the conclusion of the process and approach the courts with their evidence to pursue their cases.”
