The Nigerian Conference of Political Parties (CNPP) has lamented that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has “deliberately frustrated the deepening of the country’s democratic advance, as well as the only legacy that President Muhammadu Buhari could have intended to leave after promulgation of the amended law. Election Act 2022, which cleared the coast for the deployment of technology in the Nigerian elections.
In a statement signed by its secretary general, Chief Willy Ezugwu, reacting to the controversy surrounding the Adamawa state gubernatorial election, the CNPP said that “in a healthier climate, all INEC officials and those who They do not belong to the INEC pointed out the viral accusation of bribery and falsifying the results of the elections in the state of Adamawa should be in jail.
“This is not the case because INEC is playing a script by the enemies of Nigerian democracy or by some self-serving political elites who want to plunge the country into politically motivated anarchy for yet to be seen personal gains.
“The unwarranted palpable tension in Adamawa state since Sunday when Independent National Election Commission (INEC) state Resident Election Commissioner (REC) Hudu Yunusa-Ari announced All-Congress candidate Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru the Progressives (APC). ), as the winner of the gubernatorial election is no different from the illegalities that the commission, in collaboration with politicians, allegedly perpetrated in the February 25 presidential elections in many parts of the country.
“The conduct of the Adamawa state gubernatorial election, which was obviously not welcomed by many residents, clearly points to the fake 2023 elections in many states.
“For the CNPP, the entire damage control mechanism deployed by INEC to try to make Nigerians believe that it had good intentions in Adamawa State or other parts of the country amounts to mere movie stunts.
“INEC leadership, in particular commission chair Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had assured Nigerians of real-time transmission of the 2023 survey results, but deliberately failed to get their innovative biometric devices to work and resorted to to the manually transmitted collection of results, which opened up the electronically controlled planned electoral processes to all kinds of manipulation.
“Unfortunately, the INEC, under the current leadership, presents itself as a buy and sell commission in which the highest bidder is declared the winner against the wishes of the voters and is urged to go to court.
“Unfortunately, in the eyes of many Nigerians, the judiciary has yet to demonstrate its willingness to adjudicate election matters on the merits of the cases rather than relying on technicalities to deny justice to litigants in election petitions.
“Many Nigerians have expressed reservations about preparing the judiciary to be strong in the delivery of justice in many pre-election matters brought before the courts in 2023, particularly in the Nigerian Supreme Court.
“The actions and omissions of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are obviously aimed at intentionally derailing the legal preparations put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of this year’s elections.
“The result is the now clearly doomed legacy of free, fair and credible 2023 general elections that President Buhari would have left on May 29 as his outstanding legacy in eight years, but the Adamawa state gubernatorial election has led to a unfortunate climax of the unpleasant history of electoral impunity supervised by the INEC”, said the CNPP.
