The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has met with the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) over the controversy trailing the ongoing declaration of the just conducted presidential election.
Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and Labour Party LP had led other opposition political parties to stage a walk out on the declaration exercise on Monday, as has since boycotted tfurther appearance at the ongoing declaration a the International Conference Centre (ICC)
The aggrieved opposition political parties who demanded the uploading of election results to the INEC viewing portal before declaration, as earlier promised by INEC, accused the commission’s chairman of colluding with the ruling APC to override the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guideline for election
The parties had since moved a vote of no confidence on the INEC chairman and as well called for his resignation, alleging that he has compromised his job and failed on his several promises to Nigerians to conduct a free, fair and credible election
But Yakubu, in a meeting with the leadership of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) before the resumption of the collation exercise on Tuesday, insisted that he will stick to the law, but assured that INEC will not fail to review the declared results where there is need.
“In accordance with the new Electoral Act particularly under Section 65 of the Electoral Act, we will review the election where it is absolutely necessary”, he declared.
Earlier, the Inter-Party Advisory Council IPAC had expressed support for the commission, urging it to not accede to the request to halt the process.
IPAC chairman, Yabagi Sani who spoke on behalf of the parties at the National Collation Centre , however acknowledged that there were challenges, but added that they were not enough to truncate the process.
He said; “We are here with most of the members of the council. We are here to express our delight that this process should continue, this is because when democracy fails, political parties are the first casualties and the politicians are the biggest losers.
“Democracy is crucial to the people of this country and we believe that the elections are the fundamental pillars of our democracy. So the mere fact that we held this election amid the current circumstances, we need to congratulate this country.
“We are not been mindful of the challenges in the country, but the commission and political parties experienced some of the unexpected development. From our findings, it is not uncommon to experience such in any technology usage.
“We believe that we are at a crossroads but Nigerians are highly resilient.
“It is not that we are happy or we don’t understand the pains of our people but in a democracy according to the popular maxim ‘the show must go on’ not that we just wanted to have this as a show but this country is a country of greatness.
“So we want to say because of this country and the importance of this process to our country of course without prejudice to the position some of our members must have taken but we must be on the side of history that this process is concluded and Nigeria becomes greater”, he stated
