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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has lambasted the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, describing his promise to deliver credible governorship elections next Saturday as “medicine after death”.
Atiku also called Yakubu’s assurances worthless and unconvincing, adding that they are a belated attempt at face-saving after conducting the “worst” election in Nigeria’s history.
The former vice president stated this in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu on Sunday, March 5, 2023.
The statement came as the leadership of PDP and its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) said they were still searching and consulting for a legal team that would handle the petition of Atiku’s petition at the presidential election tribunal. The party said the filing of his petition would start immediately after inspection of the election materials.
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PDP said it had called a national protest for today in Abuja against the declaration of the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as president-elect by INEC.
Yakubu had at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) promised to ensure the strict use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the remaining polls. He said INEC staff found to be negligent during the presidential election would be barred from participating in the March 11 governorship election.
The INEC chairman said on Saturday, “All staff found to be negligent, whether they are regular or ad hoc officials, including collation and returning officers, must not be involved in the forthcoming elections. RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established.”
But in the statement, the former vice president described Yakubu’s assurances as useless and vain after supervising the most fraudulent elections Nigeria had ever witnessed since independence. He said Yakubu should not try to deceive Nigerians again after the “shambolic” performance of INEC in the February 25 presidential poll.
Atiku, however, commended the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, for admitting that the elections were far below the expectations of Nigerians.
The statement said, “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.
“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?”
Atiku added that Yakubu should be man enough to admit his “failure”. Atiku also said in the statement, “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.
“Already, 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. Yakubu should hide his face in shame.”
Another spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa campaign, Charles Ashiedu, told THISDAY that the party and its campaign organisation were still searching for a competent legal team that would handle the petition of Atiku and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, at the presidential election tribunal.
Ashiedu said the Court of Appeal had granted PDP permission to inspect the election materials. “It is after this that Atiku/Okowa can formulate their petition,” he said.
INEC declared Tinubu the winner of the presidential poll with 8,794,726 votes. But the PDP and Labour Party (LP) presidential candidates, Atiku, and Peter Obi, respectively, immediately filed separate ex-parte applications in court last Friday, accusing INEC of reneging on its promise to deliver transparent, free, fair, and credible elections.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday ordered INEC to allow the PDP and LP presidential candidates access to inspect the sensitive materials the commission deployed for the conduct of the presidential election of February 25.
The appellate court will serve as the Presidential Election Petition Tribuna
