…Urge commission not to issue certificate of return to APC candidate
Activities at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja, was grounded on Thursday when protesters from Kaduna State, stormed the secretariat to demand for the review of the outcome of the governorship election that produced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uba Sani.
Armed with a petition they submitted to the commission, the protesters equally urged the electoral umpire not to issue certificate of return to the Governor-elect until the review is completed.
The petition signed by the trio of the protesters’ spokesperson, convener and co-convener, Edward John John Auta, Hadwyah Samuel and Bello Jallo respectively, claimed that INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) was not used as promised by the commission.
“In Kaduna State, the governorship and House of Assembly poll, as monitored by many observers, was short of a democratic process as the outcome did not reflect the choice of the people or complied substantially with the provisions of the law,” they noted in the petition.
Expressing their concerns, they protesters noted that; “ahead of the 2023 general elections, INEC announced that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be deployed to the elections to prevent multiple voting and also ensure the results of polling units are uploaded to the IREV portal immediately after voting and collation at the polling units. It was also meant to serve as a point of reference in the event of a dispute during collation.
“Regrettably, while the results for most of the PUs were uploaded on the platform, the collation officers at all levels refused to consult the IREV portal despite numerous calls for it by opposition agents. A case in hand is the rejection of the Lere LG figures by opposition agents and call for the state’s chief collation officers to consult the INEC portal but were dismissed
“We also witnessed the arbitrary cancellation of results in strongholds of the opposition, and all efforts to draw the attention of the INEC officials to use the results already uploaded on the IREV portal to address the concerns of agents were also refused.
“Compromise by security agencies: It was also clear that the manipulation of the elections in many areas was supervised and aided by some corrupt agents of the security forces. In Birnin, Kachia, Kagarko, Lere, and Kudan LGAs, there were incidences of such fraudulent activities, which ultimately proved effective in altering the election outcome in favour of the APC candidate,” they noted.
Enumerating their demands, they stated that; “on view of the fact that the law provides for a seven-day window for INEC to review the results of an election where evidences of widespread irregular abound, we call on the commission to immediately commence the review of the results of the governorship elections in Kaduna State to ascertain the true winner of the elections.
“We demand that no certificate of return should be issued to the candidate of the APC or anyone for that matter unless this process is concluded and resolved in his favour.
“The commission can not invest billions of taxpayers’ money into BVAS and still fail to take advantage of the opportunities it provides to protect the votes of the electorate and enhance the integrity of the elections.
“We demand the immediate sack of the INEC Administrative Secretary, Mal Auwal Mashi, who colluded with the APC and supervised the rigging of the elections in the state. We also demand an investigation into actions Ladi, the Returning Officer (RO) for Lere LGA the RO for the State who allegedly colluded with the APC to alter the results in their favour.
“Failure to do as we have demanded will mean an endorsement of the election theft that happened in Kaduna State by the commission,” they warned.
SUN NEWS
