Tobias Sylvester
The Labour Party has rejected the result of the Presidential and National Assembly elections over alleged malpractices in the collation.
In a statement issued by its National Chairman, Julius Abure on Sunday night, the LP accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of complicity in rigging and failure to abide by the published and agreed process.
The party said the exercise has left Nigerians disappointed because of the unprofessional conduct of state and non-state actors, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to “live up to his promise to Nigerians”
The statement reads, “Yesterday, February 25, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission carried out elections nationwide for Presidential and National Assembly position.
“The exercise has left millions of Nigerians disappointed and disillusioned because of the unprofessional conduct of state and non-state actors who participated in the process.
“This press conference addresses the severe matters arising from the 2023 election, an extremely important election for Nigeria’s peace and development. THE FAILURE OF INEC TO ABIDE BY THE PUBLISHED AND AGREED PROCESS
“INEC by its conduct has caused millions of Nigerians, particularly the teeming youth, who took part in this election with high hopes of a free and fair transparent process to hold strong feelings of disappointment and disillusionment.
“The Electoral Act was amended in 2022 for the electronic transmission of results after they are declared at the polling units.
“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.
“Traditionally, Nigerians know that previous elections witnessed manipulations of results by desperate politicians at collation centres and polling units.
“But, yesterday, Saturday, February 25, 2023, the very process which INEC assured Nigerians would be followed was truncated for whatever reasons. No matter what those reasons are, they are totally unacceptable to Nigerians and members of our party.
“INEC servers shut down, and ONLY PRESIDENTIAL elections could not be uploaded onto the INEC server. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) did not work as planned.
“This failure has undoubtedly given room for manipulating the presidential results being announced by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu at the Collation Centre in Abuja.
“We have sufficient documentary evidence that confirms that manipulations of the presidential election results have occurred in Lagos State, Rivers State, Imo State, 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 polling units and INEC offices.
“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. The excuse that the server is down is not tenable.
“Because we had meetings with INEC before the election, and they assured all political parties, and indeed Nigerians, that they had a DATA RECOVERY SERVER and in the event of a technical hitch, the emergency server would be used until the main server was brought back online.
“We find it difficult to accept the flimsy excuse that the INEC servers were down.
They called on President Muhammadu Buhari, who has promised Nigerians that he would leave a legacy of free, fair, and credible elections, assuring Nigerians severally that their votes would count and that the process would be transparent and open.
“We, therefore, call on Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, who promised Nigerians that he would leave a legacy of free, fair, and credible elections, assuring Nigerians, on several occasions, that their votes would count and that the process leading to the elections would be transparent and open.
“We are calling on you to live up to your promise to Nigerians as millions of Nigerians, particularly, the youth participated in the 2023 elections with the hope that Mr President would keep to his promise of a free, fair, and transparent election.”
Abure said that Labour Party also called on the INEC Chairman to ensure that the wishes of the people were upheld.
He said the party and its presidential candidates would not accept results which reflected the actual voting results obtained at polling units across the country.
KanyiDaily had reported how the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi won five out of the seven local government areas so far declared in Plateau.
