Peter Okoye, PBA Journalism MenteeThe Labour Party (LP) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to suspend further announcements of the results of the February 25th presidential election and follow its set guidelines or completely cancel the entire election and make plans for another one.
The Labour Party Director General, Balogun Akin Osuntokun, made the call at a World Press Conference, held in Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Monday.
The party also stated that there is rising tension in Nigeria and things could get worse if the right things are not urgently done to correct the abnormalities in the ongoing election in Nigeria.
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Osuntokun said the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had promised Nigerians free, fair, and credible elections on several occasions, especially with the passing into law the Electoral Act 2022, and the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to accredit voters and also transmit results to the INEC server direct from polling units.
He however, expressed disappointment over INEC’s failure to keep to its promises as the elections were characterized by failure to use the BVAS in uploading results to the IReV portal amongst other shortcomings, such as violence, intimidation of voters, disruption of voting and collation in some parts of the country.
He also alleged that INEC officials colluded with some political parties to manipulate, election results, and refused to transmit the results from the polling units to the INEC server using BVAS as promised by the Commission.
The LP campaign DG further accused the INEC Chairman of collusion with the security forces to subvert the will of the electorates and at the same time failed to adhere to the INEC stipulated guidelines towards the conduct of the elections.
He said: “The internet and social media are awash with videos and photographic evidence of the pervasive violence and attacks that were visited on Nigerians with some attacks still ongoing across the country as we speak.
“The evidence of collusion between INEC and the security forces to subvert the will of the people are too numerous to be detailed here,” he said.
“We hereby call on INEC to suspend further announcement of the results, and follow its own guidelines or completely cancel the entire election and make plans for another election with strict compliance with the stipulated laws and guidelines.
“We ask the international community to walk their talk in Nigeria and cease to condone the multiple evils being perpetrated in our country by the rulers of Nigeria. There cannot be one standard for Nigeria, and another for the rest of the world”, he added.
Osuntokun noted that the guidelines on which the elections were conducted were extensively manipulated against what was publicly advertised, therefore leading to the results being severely compromised. He said the development has hence, made the public lose confidence in the election process.
He also called on the international community to intervene and ensure the right things are done.
Osuntokun thanked Nigerians for the support they gave to their candidates and promised them that the party will do everything possible to protect the mandate given to their candidates.
He however urged Nigerians to remain peaceful and law-abiding while they do their best to secure their mandate.
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