*Declare that last weekend’s presidential election was a sham, neither free nor fair
*Say results collated by INEC without first being transmitted electronically breach Electoral Act
*Insist results not transmitted direct from Polling Units remain illegal, of no consequence
By Okechukwu Jombo
The main opposition political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Labour Party, LP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party have called for a total cancellation of the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday February 25.
While the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Labour Party, LP insists that the results collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) without first being transmitted electronically is illegal as it breaches the provision of the Electoral Act, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP called for repeat of the election on a later date.
The vice presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed who address a joint press conference in Abuja blasted the Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu for his insistence on completing the collation process before a review of contested results.
Okowa, who read a prepared text on behalf of the two, said that the argument of waiting until the collation process is complete is idle and contrary to the law.
He pointed out that by law, any result announced by INEC is ultra vires, illegal, and of no consequence unless they are already transmitted directly from the Polling Units.
The Delta state governor stated: “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 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 the 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 the 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: Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the Polling Unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission. (Use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the Commission.
“Take the BVAS and the original copy of each of the forms in the 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.
“For clarity, Section 64 (4) (a) and of the Electoral Act, 2022 specifically provide thus: ‘A collation officer or returning officer at an election shall collate and announce the result of an election subject to his or her verification and confirmation that the number of accredited voters stated on the collated result is correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 47 (2) of this Act.
“Votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from Polling Units under Section (60) (4) of this Act.’
“Consequent on the above Section 60 (4) of the Electoral Act 2022, any result announced by INEC is ultra vires, illegal, and of no consequence unless they are results already transmitted DIRECTLY from the Polling Units. So procedurally, INEC cannot continue to announce results that are yet to be transmitted as expressly stated in the relevant Sections of the Electoral Act.
“The law is that where the law has set out the procedures to be followed, that procedure and no other must be followed.
“The argument that INEC guidelines have no force of law is idle and wayward arguments. This is not even the question of alterations to the results. It is a question of non-compliance with mandatory statutory provisions.
“The argument that it is only when the Chief Electoral Officer of the Federation announces the winner of the Presidential election that the results can be uploaded on the INEC portal cannot be correct. There must be uploading of results at the polling units after the polling officers had announced the winner at the polling units.
“Finally, we call on the commission to thread on the path of honour by cancelling the election outright and commence the process of a fresh election that will not only be credible but will be seen to be credible by Nigerians.”
Responding to a question, the LP vice presidential candidate, Datti, warned that if INEC continues with the collation as it is, it runs the risk of producing a government that will be considered illegitimate.
He said this is because it will be built on illegality, noting that the international community had been put on notice concerning this.
He accused Yakubu of putting himself in a “trance” for illegality and thereafter requesting aggrieved parties to go to court
“Whoever is in a hurry to tell people to go to court knows what they have arranged in court,” he said.
While noting that the promise of the INEC Chairman to review contested results after the completion of the process is a joke, Datti alleged that the Commission believes that it can continue to breach the process and nothing will happen
On his part, the National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rufai Alkali has called for the immediate cancellation of the presidential election which according to him was characterized by vote suppression, intimidation and vote buying.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, lkali also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce a new date for fresh elections.
“We are deeply concerned that going by what had happened on Election Day, the election umpire has taken our country back to pre-2015 era of elections where everything goes, where voters were deliberately and systematically disenfranchised, where ballot box snatching and ballot box stuffing was the norm, where voter suppression was widespread, where violence and vote-buying were the main deciding factors of the outcome of elections, where security agents openly take side with the ruling party and participate actively in rigging elections, and where people who have not participated in an election are declared winners of the election,” he said.
