The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately stop the collation of results of the presidential election.
Addressing a press
conference on Tuesday evening, Tanimu Turaki (SAN), Deputy Director
(Administration) of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, who
spoke on behalf of Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, urged
the commission to suspend further announcement of results from states.
Buhari is currently leading according to figures collated from more than 20 states.
Speaking
on the collation at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja,
Turaki said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands, in line with
the commitment to a transparent, free and fair election, an immediate
halt to the on-going collation of results by Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), until data from the smart card reader
accreditation at the polling units are made available to all the parties
in the election.
“The PDP predicates its demand on available
evidence to the effect that data from the card readers are being
reconfigured to suit the manipulations, rigging and over-voting already
carried out during the election in some states by the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
“Already, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche
Secondus, has communicated this position of our party to the INEC
Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. We have evidence from the smart card
reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been
seriously tampered with and manipulated.”
The party went on to cite instances where elections were allegedly rigged.
Turaki
continued: “In the meantime, we demand the immediate and outright
cancellation of Presidential election results in Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa
and Borno states as submitted by INEC presiding officers and ask for
the conduct of fresh elections in these states.
“In Yobe, the
total number of votes submitted as cast was more than the number of
accredited voters. Whereas the number of accredited voters was 601,056,
the total votes cast was 775, 449. This is a clear case of over-voting
which, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, renders the election null
and void. In such instance, the law provides for another election on a
day to be fixed by INEC.
“In Zamfara state, no actual voting took
place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the
entire state. There was an arrest in Shinkafi Local Government, where an
APC member was caught thumb-printing ballot papers inside his house.
Results from the presiding officer from Zamfara were concocted and
allocated according to the wishes of the leadership of the APC and INEC.
The PDP therefore demands the outright deletion of the results from
Zamfara from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible
Presidential election in Zamfara state.
“Also in Borno state,
there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of
results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders. We also
demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records
and a conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Borno
state.
“In Nasarawa, the PDP demands the immediate restoration
of our over 157,000 lawful and valid votes which were unlawfully and
arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results
from the field.
“Similarly, the PDP demands an immediate
restoration of our over 79,000 valid votes which were unlawfully
cancelled by INEC in Kogi state and the announcement of the authentic
results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes
“In the FCT, the
PDP demands the restoration of 27,000 valid votes unlawfully and
arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and a declaration of the authentic result,
inclusive of our restored 27,000 votes.
“In Plateau, the PDP
demands the immediate restoration of our over 30,000 lawful and valid
votes, which were unlawfully cancelled particularly in Jos North and the
declaration of the genuine results as delivered at the polling units
inclusive of our 30,000 restored votes.
“The PDP therefore calls
on Nigerians to disregard the results until INEC provides the data from
the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units, conducts fresh
election in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states as well as restore our votes
in Plateau, FCT, Kogi and Nasarawa states.
“The PDP maintains that from the actual votes delivered at the polling units, which we all have, Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to Atiku Abubakar.”
Source:- SignalNG
Leave a Reply