Victor EzejaAs collation and announcement of results of last Saturday’s presidential election in Nigeria goes on, Labour Party has said the party and its Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, will only accept numbers that reflect actual voting results obtained at polling units across the country.
The party said it observed that there were irregularities that marred the presidential election in several parts of the country which it believes have affected the outcome and left many Nigerians disappointed.
In a world press conference addressed by the national chairman, Barrister Julius Abure at its headquarters in Abuja on Sunday, the LP decried what it described as “unprofessional conduct of state and non-state actors who participated in the process.”
Abure said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to follow the agreed process as stipulated in the Electoral Act 2022 particularly on transmission of election results after they are declared at polling units.
INEC collation officers at various polling units across the country failed to upload results of various polling units in the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal over alleged hitches in the system.
Nigerians have been having difficulty accessing results from polling units on the portal contrary to what happened in Ekiti and Osun governorship and FCT area council elections during which people were able to view results real-time as they were being uploaded.
Abure said that INEC has, by its conduct, caused millions of Nigerians, particularly the teeming youths, who took part in this election with high hopes of free and fair election, to have strong feelings of disappointment with the outcomes.
He said that “Nigerians participated in this process with the belief that the use of technology and adherence to the agreed electronic transmission of
results to INEC servers at polling units would ensure free, fair, and
transparent elections,” and checkmate manipulations as witnessed in the past, but were disappointed as INEC failed to fulfill its promise.
INEC, through a statement by Festus Okoye, its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, had tendered apologies to Nigerians, political parties and the candidates, over the failure of the IReV portal in the election process, saying that the Commission’s technical team is working to resolve the problem.
However, the LP national chairman argued that the failure of INEC to upload polling units results for whatever reasons is unacceptable to Nigerians and members of the political party, adding that the failure has given room for manipulation.
“INEC servers shut down and ONLY presidential elections could not be uploaded on to the INEC server. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) did not work as planned.
“This failure no doubt has given room for manipulation of the presidential
results being announced by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu at the Collation Centre in Abuja.
“We have sufficient documentary evidence that confirm that manipulations of the presidential election results have occurred in Lagos, Rivers, Imo, Parts of Edo State, Delta State, and some Northern States.”These manipulations were carried out under the watchful eyes and connivance of police officers at the various election units and INEC offices.
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“The decision of INEC to go ahead to announce these doctored results based on manufactured voting has defeated the efforts made by Nigerians to see that the Electoral
Act was amended to allow for electronic transmission of results.
“It is disheartening that 24 hours after the elections held across the country that INEC is still yet to upload the authentic results of the Presidential poll on its server,” Abure said.
He further noted that there were case of violence orchestrated by thugs against supporters of Labour Party and disruptions of voting process in parts of Lagos.
Abure also accused INEC officials of deliberately refusing to upload polling units results in places where Labour Party clearly won, in Lagos and Delta States, giving “untenable reasons” they couldn’t do so.
For Lagos, he gave examples of where such happened like “Agege, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Surulere, and Ibeju Lekki, amongst others where results show that Labour Party won convincingly, [but] the INEC officials claim that the BVAS suddenly developed fault when it concerns uploading results of the presidential election.
“The same INEC officials uploaded the results of the National Assembly elections to the server without hitches.”
He said that the electoral officers said “they have firm instruction from INEC headquarters not to upload.”
He alleged that INEC officials used the police to drive the party’s agents and supporters out of the collation centre and that Labour Party local government chairman in Ibeju Lekki and officials who attempted to resist the irregularities were arrested by the police.
Rivers presidential result
The party called for outright cancellation of the presidential election results from Rivers State, over disruption of voting by thugs and manipulation of the BVAS machines and upload of “fake results in to the Central portal.”
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Abure said that if all that transpired across Nigeria during the Saturday’s poll is allowed to stand, it “is purely a betrayal of trust by millions of Nigerians on INEC.”
The party demanded that INEC should investigate all complaints of irregularities committed by members of the political class during the election and consequently, “cancel all the unverified and manipulated results arising from the presidential and national assembly elections in parts of Rivers state particularly in places like Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo and Rumukoro amongst others.”
A call for Buhari’s intervention
The party also urged President Muhammadu Buhari, who assured Nigerians that he would leave a legacy of free, fair, and credible elections, to rise to the occasion and Iive up to his promise as the legacy is at stake.
The party finally urged INEC to ensure that wishes of the people are upheld and clear all doubts about the results as Labour Party would only accept results that reflect what happened at polling units.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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