Protests In Abuja Over Issuance Of Certificate Of Return To Buhari

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• ‘Atiku must reclaim mandate given to him by Nigerians’
• PDP files petition against president’s victory today
• Saraki, Dogara, govs absent from caucus meeting
• APC vows to ‘recover stolen votes’ in Akwa Ibom

Members
of a group known as Occupy Nigeria yesterday protested at the Unity
Fountain, Abuja. They demanded that the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) reverse the issuance of a certificate of return to
President Muhammadu Buhari who was declared the winner of the recent
presidential election.

The protesters alleged that assessment by
observers on ground during the election revealed that card readers were
not used at all in some states.

The coalition of over 50 civil
society organisations and citizens said the observers’ report showed
that votes were merely allotted in many parts of the Northwest and
Northeast.According to the convener of the group, Idris Usman, it is an
insult to the Nigerian people that INEC would allow an election in which
voters were intimidated, maimed and even killed to stand. He called for
due process to be followed in ensuring that the vote of every Nigerian
counts in the 2019 presidential election.

“We’ve done a petition
to INEC. There has never been a time when a decision was reversed.
Despite that, what we are saying is that this decision did not settle
well with the people.“Where card readers were not used in the North, let
card readers be used, anybody can win but let the proper thing be done.
In Osun gubernatorial, no leader was announced till the process was
concluded, so why was INEC in such a hurry to announce the result of the
2019 presidential election?” Usman queried.

He condemned the
use of military on the day of election, saying the presence of soldiers
during the polls violated the law.The convener said the protest by the
group would continue for four hours every day until Friday, March 8,
2019 and if the electoral body failed to yield to the petition of the
group, it would occupy the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

In its
demands, the group stated that voting must be conducted for the five
million disenfranchised Nigerians, which is the population size of
several countries. They said that in the spirit of transparency, INEC
must open its back end servers to stakeholders.

Besides, the
group urged the Federal Government to withdraw all military personnel in
the South-South and South East immediately, adding that the
perpetrators of violence in the Niger Delta be brought to book.Occupy
Nigeria also asked that the thugs who harassed voters and fellow
Nigerians in Lagos be made to account for their crime.

In a
statement earlier released, Occupy Nigeria urged the citizens to rise up
and take back the country from those who wish to hold it back, saying
the nation was under attack with the future generations being at
risk.Also, a group of concerned Nigerians called Better Nigeria Group
(BNG) threatened yesterday to sue the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar, if he failed to challenge the outcome of the
presidential election.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the
spokesman for the group, Mr. Dickson Iroegbu, alleged that the
irregularities in the presidential election should not be allowed to
stand for the sake of future generations.Members of the BNG who wore
black clothes to the press conference said they were mourning the loss
of lives occasioned by the acts of brigandage and violence that
characterised the election.

The group claimed that “the outcome
of the presidential election which took place on the 23rd February,
2019, does not reflect the choice and the mandate of Nigerians. The
spate of deliberate irregularities aimed at tilting the results toward
the incumbent and the candidate of the APC and the subsequent
declaration of victory for the same candidate is an assault on our
democracy.

“This brazen impunity should not be allowed to stand
unchallenged, otherwise, amongst other things, our democracy will be
dead forever. The electoral process is the beacon of democracy and
remains so. Elections must not only be credible, but must be seen as
credible. The sham of an election which took place on the said date and
the subsequent declaration leaves so much to wonder about credibility,”
it stressed.

Also, a PDP chieftain and chairman of
Deservation.Org/Project774forAtiku2019, Dr. Sani Adamu Bello, threatened
to sue Atiku for breach of trust and violating the trust reposed in him
by millions of Nigerians should he reverse his decision to go to court
and reclaim the mandate freely given to him by voters in the February
23, 2019 polls.Adamu was reacting to the visit of the Abdulsalami
Abubakar-led peace committee which is allegedly putting pressure on
Atiku to accept the result of the presidential election and concede
victory to Buhari.

“As our democracy progresses, in 2015, the
incumbent president was defeated by the opposition candidate and so,
President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP handed over to Muhammadu Buhari
in 2015. In 2019, Atiku clearly won the election but was denied by INEC
and the incumbent President Buhari.”He said that those asking Atiku not
to go to court were not doing Nigerians any favour because over 14
million Nigerians who voted him would be disenchanted and the boundaries
of democracy limited.

“I have been mandated by my organisation
to give a one week ultimatum to the ‘president-elect’ to go and reclaim
the mandate freely given to him or we will take legal action against
him,” Adamu stated.The groups staged the protests yesterday as the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declared that its legal team would file a
petition against the re-election of President Buhari today.

The
National chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, who disclosed this at the
expanded national caucus meeting of the party in Abuja, said the resort
to the court was largely informed by what he called overwhelming rigging
of the poll by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Secondus,
who alleged that INEC officials were intimidated to carry out the
bidding of the ruling APC, flayed the alleged Buhari-led government’s
use of the military to harass the electorate in some parts of the
country in the course of the elections.“Nothing will make us waver in
the pursuit of justice. The decision to go to court has been finalised
and the process has begun. We will file our petition today (Monday) or
tomorrow (Tuesday). No matter what anyone will do or what the APC will
say, we will seek justice to the highest court of the land.

“What
happened during this election has never happened in the history of this
country. They are celebrating criminality, they are celebrating evil.
Our leaders are not talking and if you don’t speak against evil, it will
consume everybody. The National Peace Committee is not saying
anything.“INEC and its ad-hoc staff were intimidated and everyone is
quiet. If nothing is done, we will nosedive and go deeper and deeper in
this situation we have found ourselves.

“No matter the propaganda
of APC, we will seek justice till the last drop of our blood. We
believe justice will be done and God almighty will give justice,” the
PDP chairman said.

Those in attendance at the PDP’s expanded
caucus meeting included Atiku; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu;
Senator Dino Melaye; Senator Philip Aduda; former deputy Senate
president, Ibrahim Mantu; PDP Board of Trustees chairman, Wali Jibril;
former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada and other members of the PDP
national working committee.

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; running
mate to Atiku, Peter Obi and all the governors of the PDP-controlled
states were absent . Meanwhile, President Buhari has decried what he
considered as the robbery of the votes of Akwa Ibom people during the
presidential and National Assembly elections, assuring his supporters
that they would be reclaimed.He made the claim yesterday in Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State during a town hall meeting to thank the people for casting
their votes for the APC.

Buhari, who was represented by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, encouraged the people to defend their votes
during the governorship and House of Assembly elections.He stated that
it was not possible for Senator Godswill Akpabio to have lost the
elections, alleging that INEC robbed him and his party of victory, and
that all the wrongs that were allegedly done during the elections would
be addressed.

“What happened on the 23rd of February was robbery.
The votes of the people were stolen but we are not deterred. The
president sent me to thank you today. We are going to make sure that
everything that was stolen on the 23rd February is restored. “It is not
possible that Akpabio lost. We are in no doubt that Akpabio is the
elected senator of Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district. I and Adams
Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of APC have been in the opposition
for long and we cannot be defeated anymore.

“Everyone of you
should go out to vote on Saturday and defend your votes. We cannot be
cheated; not only you but tell your neighbours to vote for Obong Nsima
Ekere and all APC candidates. Wait for your votes to be counted. It is
the duty of the Federal Government to provide security and we will do
that. We will recover every one of our votes,” Osinbajo said. Oshiomhole
told the gathering that the party was not in the state to lament but to
thank the people for doing their jobs and voting President Buhari. He
alleged that INEC colluded with some of the electoral officers to deny
the state of its electoral victory on February 23, even though the
people voted for the party.

Source:- Guardianng

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