Leon Usigbe – Abuja
The National Work Council (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to declare and return National Progressive Congress Party (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu as president-elect.
In a statement issued Thursday by state propaganda minister Debo Ologunagba, the party asked the electoral body to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to the ruling party’s standard bearer.
According to the main opposition party, it demanded that INEC immediately withdraw the certificate and cancel the presidential election statement, which is in line with INEC’s powers under Article 65 of the 2022 Elections Act.
The PDP maintains that INEC violated the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) 1999, the Elections Act 2022 and INEC guidelines and regulations in declaring the APC presidential candidate as the winner. 2023 presidential election.
The statement added: “The PDP considers its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to have clearly won the February 25, 2023 presidential election, with a clear majority of the legitimate votes cast by Nigerians at the polling stations.
“Sadly, the election has been marred by deliberate misconduct including non-use of the Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) and INEC’s blatant violation of Article 60 by refusing/failing to transmit the results of voting units directly to its servers/website ( Electoral Act 2022 4)(b).
“As evidenced by political parties, voters, Nigerians from all walks of life, and local and international observers, INEC violated electoral laws and paved the way for altering, falsifying, converting results and distributing numbers. Support APC.
“Nigerians can recall how on Friday 11th November 2022, INEC, through its National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, assured that the results would be transmitted directly from the voting units to ensure the integrity and credibility of the election Nigeria election results.
“In his words, ‘We are aware of some media reports that the Commission is planning to manipulate the 2023 General Election (IReV) portal by abandoning the direct and real-time electronic upload of voting group results to the INEC Results Review…’
“The Commission has repeatedly assured Nigerians that it will transmit the results directly from the polling stations as we have seen in the Ekiti and Osun state governor elections…. IReV is the Commission’s mission to ensure the integrity and credibility of Nigerian election results One of the innovations introduced. So it’s hard to imagine the commission turning around and sabotaging its own innovations. The Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) and IReV have started voter authentication and real-time uploading of voting unit results in Nigeria”.
“INEC’s refusal to directly transmit the results of the voting groups violated the Electoral Act and its rules and regulations, undermined the process, and compromised the integrity and credibility of the election results.”
Therefore, the PDP alleges that the results announced by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu were not endorsed as INEC violated Section 60(4) of the Elections Act 2022 and its election rules and guidelines. An earlier vote transmitted directly from a polling station before it was announced was overreach without consequences and could not be established.
The statement revealed that the party had initiated legal proceedings over the conduct of the exercise.
“Therefore, our party and its presidential candidates have initiated legal remedial action to regain our victory in the 2023 presidential election,” it said.
The PDP appealed to its many supporters in Nigeria and around the world to remain calm, resilient, determined and determined in defense of democracy and “our party’s victory in the 2023 presidential election”.
