Estimated reading time: 8 minute(s)
Israel Adeleke
The Peoples Democratic Party , on Tuesday has cried out over an alleged plot by the Independent National Electoral Commission,to destroy evidence contained in the BVAS machines used for the presidential election .
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba raised this alarm at a press conference held on Tuesday, in Abuja.
He said, “Gentlemen of the Press, we have called you to alert Nigerians and the International Community of the atrocious move by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to destroy and erase evidence of its intolerable rigging of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election.
“Late yesterday at 10:10 pm, INEC in a desperate 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 out relevant information that our Party and Candidate require to prosecute our case at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
“This reprehensible action by INEC to frustrate the desire of Nigerians to get redress through the court is a clear recipe for crisis and a deliberate design by the Commission to derail our democracy and trigger anarchy in the country.”
Ologunagba begged Nigerians to recall how the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu 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.
The PDP Spokesman further 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.
He iterated that the current situation 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 argued that If INEC has nothing to hide, why were they in a hurry to declare a 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.
“Why is INEC panicky and desperate to erase the data in the BVAS if not that they contain evidence of malpractices and its culpability in the election?” Ologunagba queried
He maintained that the PDP as a law-abiding party will continue to pursue the matter in accordance with the law.
“We believe that despite the shenanigans by INEC, justice will be served at the end of the day.” He added.
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