The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cautioned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not yo destabilise Nigeria’s democracy with protests over the its declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as President-elect.
The Commission’s warning came on Monday in Abuja when the opposition party marched to the electoral body’s office to protest the conduct and outcome of the February 25, 2023 election in which its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, lost to Tinubu.
INEC national commissioner and chairman voter education and publicity, Mr Festus Okoye, who received the PDP protest letter on behalf of the commission’s chairman, said, “Please take caution in your acts to avoid destabilising our fledgling democracy.
“So, I have received this protest letter on behalf of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and I promise you this letter will be transmitted to him. If there are remedial issues, we will deal with those remedial issues.
“But I want to assure you that this commission is a listening one, this commission is a public trust and belongs to the Nigerian people. Our allegiance is to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This commission does not owe allegiance to any political party,” he said.
Earlier, the PDP had warned the INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmud, that any attempt to manipulate the electoral process will be vehemently resisted.
The PDP, in the protest letter, rejected and declared as unacceptable the outcome, announcement and declaration of the presidential election results.
The party also called on the electoral body to suspend the ongoing transmission of the Polling Units results to its servers, an action, it said, is in complete breach of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
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PDP leaders and the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar marched to the INEC national headquarters to protest the irregularities that marred the February 25 presidential election.
The party leaders moved from the party’s annex headquarters, Legacy House, in Maitama District of the FCT, in several trucks, to the INEC office, also in Maitama.
Besides Atiku, other party leaders on the protest trail are Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal; national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu; all the National Working Committee (NWC) members; former national chairman, Uche Secondus; former Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna; governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku; former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, and former national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The party members carried placards which read: “Don’t Kill Democracy”, “INEC Release The Real Results”, “We Say No To Injustice And Fraud”, “This Is Selection Not Election.”
However, in a protest letter jointly signed by the PDP national chairman, Ayu, and the party’s national secretary, Sen Samuel Anyanwu, and addressed to the INEC chairman, the party said it wanted “to warn your commission against a repeat of the experiences of the February 25 election in the coming governorship and state assembly elections of March 11, 2023. Any attempt to manipulate the electoral process will be vehemently resisted; to call on all Nigerians to be co-partners in defence of our democracy, votes, the rule of law and their Rights to freely choose the candidates of their choice; to demand an explanation why you proceeded with the declaration of the election results marred with irregularities against all calls to address the complaints brought to your attention before and during the collation process.”
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Ayu, who said the PDP leadership has held long meetings to review and deliberate on the outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023, said it was disheartening that the election which raised the hopes of all Nigerians to witness an advancement in the electoral process turned out to be a charade.
“You would recall the outcry of many concerned citizens of this country variously accusing your commission of complicity in a planned manipulation of the electoral process in favour of the ruling party (APC). At each time the issues took the media front burner, you were quick in dispelling them as rumors and mere allegations. Today Nigerians have all seen that those allegations were true.”
According to the party, in many meetings and briefings the commission held with the political parties and the press ahead of the 2023 general elections, it assured Nigerians that INEC under Prof Mahmud’s leadership would conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible election.
“You also promised the use of the Bimodal Verification and Accreditation System (BVAS) technology in voter accreditation and result management whereby the public would have unhindered access to the results uploaded to your Servers online and in real time (iREV). Contrary to this belief, there was an abysmal failure on your part to honour your promises.
“Predictably, the conduct and outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly elections fell below acceptable standards. It has resonated the fears of all Nigerians in your integrity and that of your commission to conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible election. The confidence you deceitfully made us repose in you and your commission has been battered and eroded away by the outcome of that election. The masses are angry and have not hidden their resentment and rejection of the purported declaration you made to that effect.
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“Without any equivocation, this election, in the history of our country, elicited so much interest, awareness, commitment and dexterity in Nigerians to exercise their civic responsibility,” the party said.
The PDP accused commission of deliberate complicity of widespread irregularities and manipulations that marred the election, saying that “the falsification of results and deliberate de-activation of the BVAS and your Servers to frustrate the transmission of election results directly from the Polling Units attest to that.”
“Nigerians are no more in doubt of your direct involvement in aiding and abetting the monumental rigging and manipulation of the election results in favour of the ruling party (APC). In addition, the refusal and neglect of your electoral officers to transmit the results of the election directly from the Polling Units (PU) to INEC Servers as required by law is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022. This action is not acceptable to Nigerians and neither to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
The PDP faulted Prof Mahmud’s haste to declare a winner in the election despite all the the PDP protesting the reported irregularities surrounding the election in utter disregard of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, and subsequently declared the results announced by INEC as ultra vires, illegal and of no effect.
“Notably, the hasty declaration of the election results evidently violating the Electoral Act 2022 places your integrity to total scrutiny going by your deceitful representations and assurances to Nigerians and the International Community that the Electoral Act 2022 is a game changer that would guarantee a free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process especially with the BVAS transmission of election results directly from the Polling Units.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) detests and condemns this absurdity and brazen rape of our electoral process. Nigeria should be seen as a country governed by the rule of law and it is a responsibility we collectively owe our citizens desirous of entrenching true democratic principles and the rule of law. In this circumstance we call on all Nigerians both home and in the diaspora to stand firmly in defense of their rights, votes and stolen mandate” it added.
The party further said it was writing the protest letter to tell INEC that the PDP and the ordinary and aggrieved masses of the country will no longer tolerate any act in defiance of the electoral processes and laws.
Originally published in Leadership