The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has rejected the calls by the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and a faction of the African Democratic Congress for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu and the cancellation of the results from the National Assembly Elections.
The All Progressives Congress presidential Campaign Council in a press conference on Tuesday called to counter the calls made by the opposition parties in a news briefing disclosed that the presidential and National Assembly elections were credible enough.
Spokesman for the APC campaign council, Festus Keyamo, said it was “legally wrong” to call for the altering of the electoral process when the results had not even been declared officially.
Festus Keyamo said “They actually called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to intervene; to interfere with the process.
He added that “First of all, those demands are not possible under the law,”.
The PDP, LP, and a faction within the ADC in a joint press conference earlier on Tuesday, in Abuja, had alleged that the February 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections were marred with violence, rigging and intimidation of voters.
The parties during the conference demanded the conduct of fresh elections, and asked the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to resign because of what they said is a lack of trust in him.
Mr Keyamo who also doubles as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment said that the request by the opposition parties were totally against the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, adding that the results collated by the state returning officers could not be tampered with by the INEC chairman.
According to Keyamo “When they (the results) come to the national collation centre, the national chairman has no power under the law to review what all those returning officers have done,”.
He disclosed that all complaints should have been resolved at the ward, local government area and state levels as against the grandstanding at the National Collation Centre.
Mr Keyamo a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said only the election tribunal has the power to interfere with the process.
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council asked the aggrieved parties to approach the court if they had cases they want addressed and stop the grandstanding trying to disrupt the process.
FG To Obasanjo: Don’t Truncate Electoral Process
The Minister expressed shock and disbelief that a former President could throw around unverified claims and amplify wild allegations picked up from the street against the electoral process.
”Though masquerading as an unbiased and concerned elder statesman, former President Obasanjo is in reality a known partisan who is bent on thwarting, by subterfuge, the choice of millions of Nigerian voters,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed recalled that the former President, in his time, organized perhaps the worst election since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, hence he is the least qualified to advise a
President whose determined effort to leave a legacy of free, fair, credible and transparent election is well acknowledged within and outside Nigeria.
”As the whole nation waits with bated breath for the result of last Saturday’s national elections, amid unnecessary tension created by professional complainants and political jesters, what is expected from a self-respecting elder statesman are words and actions that douse tension and serve as a soothing balm.
”Instead, former President Obasanjo used his unsolicited letter to insinuate, or perhaps wish for, an inconclusive election and a descent into anarchy; used his time to cast aspersion on electoral officials who are unable to defend themselves, while surreptitiously seeking to dress his personal choice in the garb of the people’s choice. This is duplicitous,” he said.
The Minister reminded the former President that organizing elections in Nigeria is not a mean feat, considering that the voter population of 93,469,008 in the country is 16,742,916 more than the total number of registered voters, at 76,726,092, in 14 West African nations put together. ”With a deployment of over 1,265,227 electoral officials, the infusion of technology to enhance the electoral process and the logistical nightmare of sending election materials across our vast country, INEC seems to be availing itself creditably, going by the preliminary reports of the ECOWAS Electoral Observation Mission and the Commonwealth Observer Group, among other groups that observed the election.
”Therefore, those arrogating to themselves the power to cancel an election and unilaterally fix a date for a new one, ostensibly to ameliorate perceived electoral infractions, should please exercise restraint and allow the official electoral body to conclude its duty by announcing the results of the 2023 national elections.
”After that, anyone who is aggrieved must follow the stipulated legal process put in place to adjudicate electoral disputes, instead of threatening fire and conjuring apocalypse,” he said.
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