Presidential, NASS poll, a sham — Okowa, Datti-Ahmed

The vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and his counterpart in the Labour Party, Dr Yusuf Ahmed Baba-Ahmed, has dismissed last week’s presidential election as a sham.

TrackNews Media Reports that the duo stated this at a separate briefing in Abuja yesterday.“Reading from a prepared text, Governor Okowa said what the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was doing by announcing results yet to be uploaded on the INEC portal was illegal and would not stand, adding that the promise by the INEC chairman to review the results after the declaration was a joke.

Okowa noted that last year, everybody, including the INEC chairman, was very excited about the Electoral Act.

He said: “What the Chairman should do is to go ahead and cancel the election, he has taken an oath, he should tell Nigerians the truth.““The truth is that they have not uploaded the results what happened? Is their system down? What happened in INEC? Is there a compromise?“The only way to go is to cancel. Nigerians are not fools, the INEC chairman asked for this law, and what has been done is illegal.

”If their portal is down, let him tell Nigerians the right thing to do is for him to cancel this election.

Okowa explained that on Saturday, February 25, 2023, Nigerians from different parts of the country braced all manner of challenges to cast their votes for their preferred candidates.

He said having cast their votes, they expectantly awaited the election.

“We wish to state for the records that last weekend’s election was a sham. It was neither free nor fair.

“What played out yesterday (Monday) at the National Collation Center exposes the national chairman of playing to a predetermined script.

“Our position remains that the election and transmission of the results must be in tandem with the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.“There is no doubt that INEC is under a statutory obligation to transmit election results electronically.“

“Paragraph 38 of the INEC manual made pursuant to section 149 of the Electoral Act 2022 and the 1999 constitution as amended provides for this.

“That paragraph, which deals with the transmission of results at the polling units, is crucial, and it imposes statutory obligations on the part of INEC to upload polling units results on its portal.

“There is no doubt that polling units results are the pyramid upon which other results are built. Therefore, it is required that the moment polls come to a close and the results are declared, the results must be uploaded on INEC server or portal.

“Paragraph 38 of INEC Manual 2022 made pursuant to the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended and Section 149 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that: “On completion of all the Polling Unit voting and results procedures, the Presiding Officer shall: (i) Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the Polling Unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission.“(ii) Use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the commission.

(iii) Take the BVAS and the original copy of each of the forms in a tamper-evident envelope to the Registration Area/Ward Collation Officer, in the company of Security Agents.

“The polling agents may accompany the Presiding Officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre.” It is mandatory and compulsory. INEC has no option.

So, the failure to upload results and follow the procedures set out in paragraph 38 of the manual made pursuant to the Electoral Act 2022, is a fundamental breach that has the potential of rendering the election results that did not follow those procedures null and void,” he added.

Speaking shortly after Okowa, Baba-Ahmed said: “I align myself with my brother, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.

He enjoined the INEC chairman to take the path of honour by doing the right thing.

The LP vice presidential candidate also noted that everything was at stake with this election because the future of the nation was at stake.