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PDP Raises the Alarm, Says INEC Wants to Prevent BVAS Evidence
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm that the Independent National Electoral Commission is making moves to prevent the party from obtaining evidence from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System through obtaining a court order.
The court order, the PDP said, would reconfigure the BVAS so that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would not have what is required for prosecuting its case at the presidential election tribunal.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday night at the party headquarters in Abuja, the National Publucity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated that, “late on Monday at 10:10 PM, INEC in a move to prevent our party and candidate from obtaining necessary evidence as ordered by the Court, filed a motion requesting that it be allowed to reconfigure the BVAS machines and wipe off relevant information that our party and candidate require to prosecute our case at the presidential election tribunal.”
Ologunagba added that the action of INEC was reprehensible and meant to frustrate the desire of Nigerians to get redress through the court.
He pointed out that “it is a clear recipe for crisis and a deliberate design by the commission to derail our democracy and trigger anarchy in the country.”
INEC had announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, returned president-elect from the Saturday, February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections which the PDP earlier rejected the results.
The spokesperson for the PDP further maintained that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, superintended over the alleged manipulation of the results of the presidential election and hurriedly announced a winner in spite of widespread outcry and complaints over numerous evidence of malpractices and violation of several provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 by INEC and its officials.
He also said the INEC chairman bypassed all the steps and procedures provided by the Electoral Act, 2022 for the declaration of results, including to announce and declare only results that were transmitted directly from the Polling Units to the INEC server/website and to review the results in the event of disputes and objections as to the correctness and consistency of the collated result.
The PDP spokesman also pointed out that, “Instead of being guided by the law, the INEC chairman brazenly announced and declared results that were not transmitted directly from the Polling Units to INEC’s server/website while ignoring the objections and complaints raised during the collation in complete disregard to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“Despite the provocative act of the INEC chairman, the PDP, as a law-abiding party, approached the court and obtained an order directing INEC to, among other things, grant our party and candidate unrestrained access to carry out a forensic examination of the ballot papers, data forms, BVAS/and or card readers and all other necessary information, material and evidence to get redress for Nigerians at the Election Tribunal.
“Apparently panicked by the order, INEC rushed to court to file a motion requesting the court to allow it reconfigure the BVAS devices with the view to erasing the information contained therein.
He further observed that in the motion, INEC admitted that the BVAS application stores the accreditation data for all voters accredited on the device for the presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives elections conducted on February 25, 2023 and that the reconfiguration of the BVAS devices entailed purging the accreditation data on the BVAS devices.
He maintained that the action by INEC was vexatious, provocative and only pointed to the impunity and culpability of the Commission with regard to the reported manipulations and alteration of results to deny its party and its candidate their victory at the presidential election.
According to him, INEC’s action further validates the fact that their party and presidential candidate won the February 25, 2023 presidential election, based on the actual votes cast at the polling units.
He further questioned: “If INEC has nothing to hide, why was it in a hurry to declare manipulated results without recourse to the provisions of the Electoral Act and without consideration of the disputes, objections and complaints raised by Parties during the collation process?”
He reiterated the party’s commitment to continue to pursue the matter in accordance with the law.
The Punch
Adebayo Adelabu, one of the aspirants for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket in Oyo State, has alleged irregularities in the party’s governorship primary election held on Thursday.
Adelabu, who expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the exercise, stated that the primary was characterized by misconduct ranging from disenfranchisement of his supporters in some wards and the commencement of election process earlier than scheduled.
Speaking after the conclusion of the primary election at IMG School, Ward 9, Ibadan South-East Local Government Area, the immediate past Minister of Power alleged that the process was neither free, fair nor credible.
He said: “Before our people started getting to their various wards, they have already conducted the election and they wrote the figures they want as results.
“In some wards, our people were prevented from voting. They were intimidated. They were chased away violently. And in some wards, voting did not take place at all.
“All this kind of misconduct is not good at this stage of our democracy in Nigeria, and something has to be done about it.”
Adelabu, therefore, vowed to come up with serious petitions against all the irregularities not just in Ibadan, but across all the five geopolitical zones in Oyo State.
“Also, conduct of many party executives is uncalled for, a lot of people bought forms and they were cleared. And they decided to conduct affirmation of a particular candidate in some wards.
“There was nothing like consensus arrangement. It was just a figment of their weird imagination. The instruction we got from Abuja was that we should all carry out free, fair, and transparent direct primary election where every aspirant will be given a level playing ground and the election will be conducted peacefully.
“Where did they get the idea of consensus candidates? And this is what happened in a lot of the wards. And it didn’t go down well with us. “We don’t want that. We are going to assess the gravity of this gross misconduct and the potential impact on the overall result of this election.
“I will put a petition forward to the appropriate authorities so that it can be deeply investigated and there must be consequences to this. The people who perpetrated this misconduct must be identified and punished. And the aspirants involved also need to be suspended because this is not good for us.
“Democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people where nobody should be disenfranchised. Once you are a party member, you should have that freedom, that authority to pick an aspirant of your choice as the flag bearer of the party.
“This is Ibadan, this is Oyo State and this the centre of politics in the southwest. And we should be able to lay good examples and the process should produce a candidate that won transparently, freely and fairly,” he said.
Meanwhile, at Ward 9, Ibadan South-East Local Government, Adelabu, polled 430 to defeat his closest rival, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, who had 3 votes.
Al Nassr captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, has finally won the Saudi Pro League title.
They were confirmed champions on Thursday, thanks to a 4-2 drubbing of relegation battlers, Damac.
The title race had gone down to the final day after Al-Nassr dramatically dropped points against Al-Hilal the previous week.
Jorge Jesus’ side knew there could be no mistakes against a Damac side fighting for survival at the other end of the table.
Ronaldo was on the scoresheet, as his brace helped Al Nassr secure the title ahead of rivals Al Hilal.
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has announced his withdrawal from the All Progressives Congress governorship primary election in the state.
Fubara made this known in a statement personally signed on Wednesday, saying he would support whoever emerges as the party’s candidate, The Nations reported.
The governor said his decision followed extensive consultations with his family, friends, and political associates.
“After deep reflection and extensive consultations with my family, friends, and associates, I have taken the difficult but necessary decision to withdraw from the APC governorship primaries. I do so with a full heart and with a firm commitment to support whoever emerges as the candidate of our great party,” Fubara said.
Fubara said although the decision was difficult, he remained committed to supporting whoever would emerge as the APC governorship candidate.
According to him, leadership demands sacrifice and personal ambition must sometimes give way to the collective interest of the people.
Meanwhile, the embattled governor expressed appreciation to his supporters for their loyalty, prayers and sacrifices throughout the political process, acknowledging that many would feel disappointed by his withdrawal.
He said his silence in recent weeks was “deliberate and strategic,” adding that it was guided by the higher interest of the state.
Tone Cole, APC chieftain and 2027 governorship aspirant in Rivers State, also announced his withdrawal from the race, saying his decision was, among other reasons, in the interest of the party’s unity.
