The Labour Party has called for the “compromised” election to be annulled and that the announcement of election results be postponed.
The decision was taken today, February 27th, by the Labour Party’s Presidential Campaign Committee.
Dr. Akin Osuntokun, the Director General of the Labor Party Campaign Council, said at a press conference that none of the promises made to Nigerians by President Buhari and INEC Chairman, Yakub Mahmood, regarding a free and fair election following the passage of the new electoral law have been kept.
According to Osuntokun, the internet, and social media are full of videos and photographic evidence of the pervasive violence and attacks inflicted on Nigerians during the elections, and also noted that some attacks were still taking place across the country.
Osuntokun claimed that all promises regarding the deployment of an anchored security system on BVAS had been broken.
He pointed out that many examples of cooperation between INEC and security forces to thwart the will of the population could be found and that INEC rules for conducting elections had been blatantly violated. He also claimed that INEC has been very reluctant to make the necessary corrections.
In his words;
“Contrary to the publicly advertised guidelines for the conduct of the elections, we are convinced that the processes leading to the results have been severely compromised. Consequently, we state that we have lost confidence in the results being collated and announced.
Nigerians have inundated us with calls and protests over INEC’s non-compliance with provisions of the electoral guidelines and the obvious manipulations of the election results.
We, hereby, call on INEC to suspend the 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.”
Osuntokun went on to say that the party has called on the foreign community to stop tolerating the “multiple crimes” being committed by its leaders in Nigeria and to start acting responsibly there.
He thanked Nigerians for supporting Peter Obi’s presidential candidacy and assured their supporters that their mandates would not be left to a desperate group of unsuccessful leaders who have only brought devastation to our beloved country. The party urged Nigerians to obey the law and remain calm.
