Collation of results from last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly Elections continued Monday with the Labour Party (LP)’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, causing an upset in Lagos state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
The result so far released by INEC last night, showed Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) having 4,070,570, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar with 2, 654, 417 votes and Obi having 1,598,987 votes.
In the shocking result, Obi polled 582,454 votes to defeat Tinubu, who got 572,606 votes in Lagos with Atiku scoring 75,750 votes.
Tinubu is a former governor of Lagos state believed to have substantial influence in the political space of the state.
Similarly, the LP candidate is also in the lead in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, with 111,275 votes in the results released so far, and also made a headway in Enugu state where he got 428, 640 votes.
And for Tinubu’s APC, the party posted a sterling performance in Oyo with 449,884 votes, Ogun (341,554), Kwara (263,572), Ekiti (201,494), Jigawa (421,390) and Ekiti state where he got 201,494 votes.
And for Atiku’s PDP, it scored 417,611 votes in Adamawa, Katsina (482,283), Gombe (319,123), Yobe (198,567) and scored 354,366 votes in Osun, while Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) got 1, 065, 299 from the states whose results were released as at the time of this report.
Drama
Meanwhile, a mild drama played out during the collation of results when the PDP, LP and 8 other opposition parties initially staged a walkout on the INEC chairman as the APC remained in the hall for the continuation of the exercise in Abuja.
Leading the pack, which included the Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), was the PDP agent, Senator Dino Melaye.
Yakubu shut down a motion by Melaye to adjourn the collation process until polling units results were uploaded on the INEC Results Viewing Portal.
While alleging that the entire process was already compromised by INEC, they sought for the cancellation of the entire presidential election results.
Agents recant
But barely two hours after, some agents of the parties recanted and said they were not part of the walkout.
They were agents of the AAC, SDP, Peoples Redemption Party, Boot Party, Accord Party, National Rescue Movement, Youth Progressives Party, Allied Peoples Movement and New Nigeria Peoples Party.
INEC
Addressing their grievances, Yakubu said the commission had the power to review the electoral process but it can only do so only after the conclusion of the collation process.
On allegation of over-voting in Ekiti state, he said there was no over-voting as alleged.
He said party agents had appended their signatures in agreement with the result sheets, noting that the figure presented by the PDP agent did not emanate from the commission.
Yakubu also said the figures in the commission’s possession showed 315,058 total accredited votes and 308,171 valid votes, noting that the rejected votes were 6,301.
He asked the political parties to approach the commission for redress if they had anything to the contrary.
“If there’s any figure different from what I have presented…please discountenance that figure, it does not emanate from the commission,” he said.
Obasanjo, Abdulsalami caution
But sounding some words of caution, former President Olusegun Obasanjo called on President Muhammadu Buhari to weigh in and ask INEC to do the needful by addressing concerns raised by some stakeholders.
In a statement Monday in Abeokuta, Ogun state, the former president said there was need to avert an untoward consequence arising from certain alleged anomalies in the presidential polls.
The statement was entitled “2023 Nigeria Presidential Election: An Appeal for Caution and Rectification”.
It said: “Nigerian Brothers and Sisters, greetings to you all. I am constrained to speak at this point.
“I crave the indulgence of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency General Muhammadu Buhari, to make this statement because I have had the opportunity to keep him aware of what I know is happening and the danger looming ahead.
“On many occasions in the past, I have not hesitated to point out the lacuna in the action of the President and his government. But as far as the election issues are concerned, the President has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he will want to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
“Until last Saturday night, February 25, 2023, the good and noble plan and preparation for the elections seemed to be going well. For the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a lot of money was spent to introduce Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Server for immediate transmission of results from polling units. It is no secret that INEC officials, at the operational level, have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not work and to revert to the manual transmission of results which is manipulated and the results doctored.
“The Chairman of INEC may claim ignorance, but he cannot fold his hands and do nothing when he knows that the election process has been corrupted and most of the results that are brought outside BVAS and Server are not true reflections of the will of Nigerians who have made their individual choice.
“At this stage, we do not need wittingly or unwittingly to set this country on fire with the greed, irresponsibility and unpatriotic act of those who allegedly gave money to INEC officials for perversion and those who collected the blood money.
“Let me appeal to the Chairman of INEC, if his hands are clean, to save Nigeria from the looming danger and disaster which is just waiting to happen. If the Chairman can postpone elections four days to the election, he can do everything to rectify the errors of the last two days – no BVAS, no result to be acceptable; and no uploading through Server, no result to be acceptable.
“Whereas BVAS and Servers have been manipulated or rendered inactive, such results must be declared void and inadmissible for election declaration.
“Chairman INEC, I have thought that you would use this wonderful opportunity to mend your reputation and character for posterity.
“Your Excellency, President Buhari Muhammadu, tension is building up and please let all elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test be cancelled and be brought back with areas where elections were disrupted for next Saturday, March 4, 2023, and BVAS and Server officials be changed.
“To know which stations or polling units were manipulated, let a Committee of INEC staff and representatives of the four major political parties with the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association look into what must be done to have hitch-free elections next Saturday.
“Mr. President, may your plan and hope for leaving a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible election be realized. Mr. President, please don’t let anybody say to you that it does not matter or it is the problem of INEC.
“On no account, should you be seen as part of the collusion or compromise? When the die is cast, it will be your problem as the Chief Executive of the nation. The Chairman of INEC may sneak out of the country or go back to his ivory tower. Your Excellency, thank you for hearing me out.”
…Abdulsalami too
Also weighing in, the National Peace Committee co-chaired by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), and Catholic Bishop Sokoto Diocese Matthew Hassan Kukah, called on INEC to address issues raised by the stakeholders.
The organisation also appealed to INEC to take all the time it required to ensure deliverance of results to inspire the confidence of Nigerians in line with international best practices.
Abdulsalami said this in a statement titled, “A call for calm: Please give peace and the process chance,” and obtained by journalists in Abuja Monday evening.
He reminded Nigerians that the world had invested a lot of goodwill towards the country in the elections, adding that all citizens deserved to be rewarded by a process that ensures their votes truly count.
The statement reads: “Nigerians must be reminded that the world has invested a lot of goodwill towards us in these elections. We have taken note of the dissatisfaction among voters who braved all harsh weather elements to perform their civic duties. All citizens deserve to be rewarded by a process that ensures that their votes truly count.
“We appeal to INEC to heed the grievances being expressed, to take the necessary steps to escalate investigations of all allegations of infractions and to ensure that justice is clearly done to all citizens who went out to vote.
“We have received reports of the culture of voter suppression manifested across the country through the application of targeted violence, disruption of processes, inducement of voters, intimidation, deliberate frustrations of voters and the challenges of the election equipment.
“We are pleased that INEC has accepted these lapses and promised to rectify these lapses. We appeal to the Security Agencies to collaborate with INEC in their investigations of these weighty allegations. Concerns about the failures of the INEC Result Viewing Portals across the country must be thoroughly investigated to ensure transparency.
“In the spirit of the Peace Accord which all candidates and their Chairmen signed on February 23 2023, the NPC appeals to all the presidential candidates, the chairmen of parties to take full responsibility for statements made by their spokespersons and agents. We appeal to all our citizens to remain calm while INEC continues with its process to its conclusion. Finally, let us all stand together trusting in the will of God.
“We appeal to INEC to take all the time it requires to ensure that it delivers results that inspire the confidence of our people and meet time tested international standards.
“We commend Nigerians for turning out in mass to exercise their civic duty by voting in the February 25 elections. We took note of their patience, dignity and enthusiasm which Nigerians lined up to vote despite observable challenges in the polling units.
“Along with millions of other Nigerians and the international community, we have followed developments since the commencement and end of the Presidential and the National Assembly elections last Saturday. Not unexpectedly, the elections got on to a rather rocky start with the problems around logistics and accreditation processes across the country.
“On balance, despite these glitches, the elections were peaceful across most part of the country. However, now that the process of casting our votes has been largely concluded, the challenge now lies with the collation of the results. We perfectly understand that Nigerians are quite disturbed by these developments. Against, this backdrop, we make the following appeals.”
