From Maurice Okafor, Enugu.
As the nation awaits announcement of the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday, February 25, the apex body of al Igbo socio cultural organisations, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has cautioned against any dubious plan to mutilate or falsify the result of the election against the wish of most Nigerians as demonstrated in the ballot box.
The National publicity secretary of the organisation,Dr Alex Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia,gave this caution in a press statement made available to news men yesterday.
While thanking Nigerians for their massive support to the Labour party Presidential candidate.Mr Peter Obi,Ohanaeze said it is most regrettable that some agents of darkness are bent on using the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to test the will of Nigerians.
He mentioned the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure,to have raised alarm that some “officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Lagos and Delta states have refused to upload the results of the presidential elections collated in various polling units in the states unto INEC’s Central Server. The Chairman, in a statement said that most of the polling units affected were areas where the LP candidate, Peter Obi, had recorded victory.
His words,’The chairman listed places like Agege, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Surulere, and Ibeju Lekki, in Lagos where results showed that Labour Party won convincingly and INEC officials had failed to upload results. He added that ‘they were using the police to drive away the Labour Party agents and supporters out of the venue”. The police asserted that “they had the firm instruction from the INEC headquarters not to upload”
‘Similarly, Chief Bode George alerted that the “INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu sneaked into Lagos at night of the election and met with some unknown persons in Ikoyi Lagos”. The most curious, worrisome and threatening is that Yakubu “arrived and left in a private jet owned by Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
Ohanaeze spokes man stated further,’ Mr. Olawale Okunniyi of the Labour Party reports of gunshots in parts of Lagos, and that its chieftain, Prof Pat Utomi, and some others have been held hostage and election results being manipulated at collation centres in parts of the state. Evidently, “Nigerians have demonstrated that they want Peter Obi to be their president by voting for him”.
‘ Governor Nyesom Wike, after several months of melodramatic political ambivalence was confronted with a “stark reality of a defeat even in the polling units in his compound in Worji, where LP scored 323 votes against APC and PDP’s 5 and 2 votes respectively” Abure informs that Wike “used the soldiers and police to intimidate, harass and took away election materials including the result sheets, manipulated the BVAS machines and uploaded fake results in to the Central portal”. Other incidences include “Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo, Rumukoro and several other areas where Labour Party was clearly leading in virtually all the polling units with very wide margins”.
‘The National Leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has warned that “if INEC dares to rig the election, Nigerians should protest seriously for international communities to intervene”. He added that it will be nunc dimities for Nigeria’.
‘Professor Yakubu is reminded that Nigerians went into this election based his assurances that the deployment of BIVAS by INEC was a perfect antidote to electoral malpractices in Nigeria. It will therefore be very unfortunate if what is going on across Nigeria is allowed to continue. It is a betrayal of trust which the millions of Nigerians will surely revolt against’.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo beckoned on President Buhari and the international community to intervene.
‘ We call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the International community to prevail on Mahmood Yakubu not to lend hand to the thickening Frankenstein monster that first devours its creator by respecting the will of the people’.
