By Baron Ike
Nigeria’s main opposition political party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop forthwith the ongoing collation of results of the presidential election held on Saturday,February 23.
The party insists that collation be halted until data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units are made available to all the parties in the election.
The PDP had earlier told Nigerians that it was rejecting the result and advised INEC to discontinue the announcement.
At least results from 27 states had been presented and announced with the candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari having upper hand in some areas and that of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar leading in some areas as well.
The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said he hopes all the results would be presented today and the winner announced.
The PDP is trailing behind the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the results so far released and the leadership said they have made some inevitable observations on lapses.
A statement signed by a former minister, Taminu Turaki, Deputy Director General (Administration) of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, called on Nigerians to disregard the results so far announced by the INEC until the Commission 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 statement reads:
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.
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 thump-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.