Ohanaeze Ndigbo has admonished the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to allow itself to be used in subverting the wish of Nigerians as expressed in the general elections.
It, however, thanked Nigerians for their courage, steadfastness and the ultimate discharge of their civic duties by exercising their franchise for a better Nigeria at the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26.
Its Secretary General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, said that from results so far released, it was clear that Nigerians voted for a new Nigeria as represented by Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed of the Labour Party.
But, Ohanaeze regretted that some agents of darkness were bent on using theINEC to test the will of Nigerians.
In a statement by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze noted the alarm raised by the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, that some “officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Lagos and Delta States have refused to upload the results of the presidential elections collated in various polling units in the states unto INEC’s Central Server.”
Abure had said most of the polling units affected were areas where the LP candidate, Peter Obi, had recorded victory. He chairman listed places like Agege, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Surulere, and Ibeju Lekki, in Lagos where results showed that Labour Party won convincingly and INEC officials had failed to upload results.
He added that ‘they were using the police to drive away the Labour Party agents and supporters out of the venue”.
The police asserted that “they had the firm instruction from the INEC headquarters not to upload.”
The apex Igbo organisation also cited reports of gunshots in parts of Lagos, as alleged by Olawale Okunniyi that that LP chieftain, Prof Pat Utomi, and some others were held hostage and while election results were manipulated at collation centres in parts of the state.
The group further noted the allegation of LP that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was confronted with a “stark reality of a defeat even in the polling units in his compound in Worji, where LP scored 323 votes against APC and PDP’s five and two votes respectively.” So, the governor “used the soldiers and police to intimidate, harass and took away election materials including the result sheets, manipulated the BVAS machines and uploaded fake results in to the Central portal.”
Other incidences include “Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo, Rumukoro and several other areas where Labour Party was clearly leading in virtually all the polling units with very wide margins.”
Ohanaeze urged INEC to respect the wish of Nigerians at the polls, counselling that those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
It reminded the INEC boss, that Nigerians went into the election because of his assurances that the deployment of BIVAS by INEC was a perfect antidote to electoral malpractices in Nigeria.
“It will therefore be very unfortunate if what is going on across Nigeria is allowed to continue. It is a betrayal of trust which the millions of Nigerians will surely revolt against.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the International community to prevail on Mahmood Yakubu not to lend hand to the thickening Frankenstein monster that first devours its creator by respecting the will of the people. Nigerians have spoken.”
SUN NEWS
