Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, to save Nigeria from the danger and looming disaster the Commission is plunging Nigeria.
Obasanjo said in a statement on Monday evening that most of the results being announced outside of the BVAS and the IReV are not the true reflection of the Will of the Nigerian electorate.
Stressing that while the INEC Chairman may claim ignorance, Obasanjo said he cannot ignore the fact that the process of the election has been corrupted.
Obasanjo said that it is public knowledge that officials of INEC at the operations level have been allegedly compromised to scuttle the system that had been programmed to work until February 25, the date of the election.
The former President urged Yakubu to postpone the election to rectify the observed errors with the BVAS saying
“If the Chairman can postpone elections four days to the election, he can do everything to rectify the errors of the last two days – no BVAS, no result to be acceptable; and no uploading through Server, no result to be acceptable.”
He said that where the BVAS and the Servers have been rendered inactive, the results should be voided and inadmissible for Electoral declaration.
However, the former President commended President Mohammadu Buhari for proving beyond reasonable doubts that he desired to leave behind a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
The full statement is presented below:
2023 NIGERIA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – AN APPEAL FOR CAUTION AND RECTIFICATION
Nigerian Brothers and Sisters, greetings to you all.
I am constrained to speak at this point.
I crave the indulgence of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency General Muhammadu Buhari, to make this statement because I have had opportunity to keep him aware of what I know is happening and the danger looming ahead.
On many occasions in the past, I have not hesitated to point out lacuna in the action of the President and his government. But as far as the election issues are concerned, the President has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he will want to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
Until last Saturday night, February 25, 2023, the good and noble plan and preparation for the elections seemed to be going well. For the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a lot of money was spent to introduce Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and the Server for immediate transmission of results from polling units.
It is no secret that INEC officials, at operational level, have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work and to revert to manual transmission of results which is manipulated and the results doctored.
The Chairman of INEC may claim ignorance but he cannot fold his hands and do nothing when he knows that election process has been corrupted and most of the results that are brought outside BVAS and Server are not true reflection of the will of Nigerians who have made their individual choice.
