The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) have demanded that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) step aside.
The three parties in joint press conference on Tuesday alleged that the February 25 presidential election was marred with violence, intimidation of voters and rigging.
LP National, Julius Abure; the PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu; as well as their ADC counterpart, Ralph Nwosu, said that INEC officials manipulated Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections by their failure to upload results electronically on the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
The parties demanded for fresh elections to be conducted.
Abure, who spoke on behalf of the LP, PDP and the ADC, said, “This election is not free and far from being fair”, adding that there are “ongoing cancellation of results from areas of strength of the opposition parties”.
They described as unacceptable, the deliberate refusal of the INEC chairman to respect the upload of results electronically as stipulated by Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“We are therefore constrained by this development to state that INEC compromised the integrity of this election even before collation commenced at the polling units.
“Section 60 sub-section 5 of the Electoral Act says that the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballots in a manner as prescribed by the commission.
“A failure to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the guidelines makes it imperative that all results recently uploaded on the IReV portal must be updated before they are announced.
“INEC went back on that promise…This election is not free and far from being fair and transparent.
“We shall not be part of the electoral process currently going on at the National Collation Centre and we demand that this sham of an election be immediately cancelled.
“We also call for a fresh election to be carried out in accordance to the laid down INEC procedure.
“We therefore call on Yakubu to step aside from his role,” the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, who delivered the position of the three opposition parties, said.
“We have a responsibility to the millions of Nigerians who put their faith in us and our presidential candidates to defend our country from the forces that seek to tear us apart,” he added.
The parties therefore called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to stand by his promise to Nigerians to leave a legacy of a free, fair, transparent and credible election.
Abure said, “President Buhari, this is the time of great test of your integrity, use your office to save Nigeria from this electoral mismanagement and save your legacy.
“We call on Nigerians to join us in defending the democracy of our country.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
