By Ade Martins-
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has discredited INEC’s boss, Mahnood Yakubu, (pictured)-and branded him a hypocrite with worthless promises, after Yakubu sort to assure Nigerians that the gubernatorial elections scheduled to take place this Saturday.
Atiku stated that the pledge by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver credible governorship elections is worthless and unconvincing, as he advised Yakubu to hide his face in shame, in a scathing attack the INEC leader.
INEC’s credibility has been questioned after an election that divided Nigeria, following allegations of fraudulent practices which saw the ruling party’s Abiola Tinubu declared the presidential winner of the elections.
Underlying the argument of the alleged corruption is that a powerful force with governorship financial resources, had a vested interest in seeing Tinubu emerge the winner.
Rotimi Amaechi- a former governor of Rivers State from the APC- and Nyesome Wike from the PDP party, are both said to have wanted Tinubu to emerge the winner.
Ameachi of the APC has his man, Tonye Cole, going for the governorship pot of Rivers State, but had allegedly been involved in anti party activities, and had urged people to to win the presidential elections.
An article in today’s This Day Live confirmed the APC party’s view that Tinubu would not have won without the support of APC governors, all of whom were under the leadership of Amaechi as head of the party, although the party had a big supporter in the form of PDP current governor, Nyesome Wike- a man belonging to a rival party, but who had sour relations with the same party.
Former Rivers State Governor: Rotimi Amaechi Image:newswireng.com
Ameachi of the APC has his man, Tonye Cole, going for the governorship pot of Rivers State, but had allegedly been involved in anti party activities, having allegely urged people to support his party rival, Atiku, to win the presidential elections.
Today, the leader of the party, Tony Okacha, declared himself the leader of the party, after Amaechi was removed as leader.
Atiku’s PDP party and the Labour party have alleged that the outcome of Nigeria’s elections, dubbed ‘Nigeria Decides 2023’, was fixed, after corrupt INEC officials changed the results to suit a hidden agenda, and even published results in places where no elections took place due to poor structure and corruption.
Rivers State governor: Nyesome Wike Image:okay.ng
Wike has been at loggerheads with members of his own party after his bid to be nominated the presidential candidate for the party failed. He is widely believed to have been supporting Tinubu, but has never publicly stated so.
Aggrieved; Atiku Abubakar Image: dailypost.ng
A number of states that launched legal suits against the party withdrew their legal challenge early this week, but a court hearing on the Labour Party challenge is due to commence tomorrow.
The elections in Africa’s most populous country was marred by ballot snatching, vote buying, and the failure of its electoral body to upload election results immediately, as stipulated in Nigeria’s often breached Constitution.
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu recently promised to ensure the strict use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and stated that all INEC staff found to be negligent during the presidential election would be barred from engaging in the March 11 governorship poll.
However, a statement by his media aide Phrank Shaibu described INEC’s assurances as worthless and unconvincing, adding that the INEC chairman was only trying to make up for allegedly conducting the worst elections Nigeria witnessed since independence.
Shaibu also commended the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, for admitting that the election was below the expectations of Nigerians.
“The INEC chairman is nothing but a hypocrite. After promising to upload the results from polling units in real time, he allowed himself to be used, or he used himself in subverting the will of Nigerians. It will shock you to note that seven days since the election ended, the full results have still not been uploaded on INEC’s result viewing portal,” Shaibu said.
“The election was so bad that it failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians as restated by several foreign media outlets and observers as well as Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard of the US. Rather than apologise, the INEC chairman is trying to shift blame.
“After INEC’s abysmal performance at the scam election of February 25, he is now trying to save face, insisting that errant staff would be punished and would not be deployed in the March 11 governorship poll. This is arrant nonsense. Is INEC planning on training new staff within five days that will replace the so-called errant ones? Is he going to recruit new staff or deploy some from outer space?”
Shaibu noted that Yakubu should be man enough to own up to his failure rather than suspend any staff stating that the INEC chairman is the one that needs to step aside.
“Prof. Yakubu should be man enough to own up to his failure. A fish rots from the head down, and that is what has happened at INEC. Rather than suspend any staff, the INEC chairman is the one that needs to step aside as his first act of contrition.
Over 300,000 Nigerians have signed a petition on Change.Org to demand that the US, UK, and Europe place a visa ban on the INEC chairman. This shows you the general feeling of Nigerians. Prof Yakubu should hide his face in shame.”
The court case alleging fraud will be very interesting and dramatic, as those launching the suit know that solid evidence is needed in a court of law to overturn an official election result.
Tinubu, who was once governor of Lagos State is credited with transforming Lagos and raising individuals from political obscurity into active participants in Nigerian society.
In many ways, Tinubu is a capable leader, but decision to have a Muslim as his running mate, against the political convention in Nigeria of selecting a running mate with the opposite religion as a demonstration of fairness and balance in a country, thee many observers aback, and raised suspicions about his intentions, and the associated issue of integrity behind the set up.
In a country where religion oddly features high on the political and cultural landscape, and to eliminate suspicion Tinubu was expected to select a Christian as his running mate, or someone from any other religion.
The gubernatorial elections on Saturday, with just a few days to go, is mired in confusion.