The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the resignation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for allegedly deliberately sabotaging the recent presidential election.
The party said the further review of the outcome of the presidential election showed that Yakubu is culpable of serious electoral offence and that Nigerians have lost faith in his ability to ensure INEC is free and fair going into the governorship and state assembly elections.
The national publicity secretary of PDP, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, during a press conference IN Abuja yesterday, said the INEC chairman deliberately sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results directly from the polling units to give room for the criminal mutilation, alteration and switching of election results across the nation in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
INEC in a reaction, again described the call by the PDP as misplaced and irresponsible.
The three opposition parties had earlier passed a vote of no confidence on the INEC chairman and even called for Yakubu's resignation.
Reacting to the call in a chat with LEADERSHIP in Abuja yesterday, the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said, "The latest call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), just like it did previously for the resignation of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is misplaced.
Oyekanmi said, "The PDP did not provide any convincing evidence to back up all the spurious allegations it listed as Prof. Yakubu's "infractions".
But the PDP spokesman said Yakubu's continuous stay in office was capable of paving the way for the suppression, tampering and destruction of critical evidence required to further expose the infractions and violations by the commission at the presidential election tribunal.
Ologunagba, who noted that Yakubu as INEC chairman had become vexatious and injurious to the integrity of the electoral commission, asked the security and financial crimes agencies to investigate him and other top INEC officials for allegedly being financially compromised to manipulate the electoral process.
He also called on the international community to immediately impose sanctions including travel restrictions on the INEC chairman and other top officials of the commission over their roles in compromising democracy in Nigeria.
He said, "The party said it has further reviewed the widely-condemned infractions, brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results by the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to subvert the will of Nigerians in the February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly Elections.
"The PDP has also reviewed the latest scheme by INEC to reconfigure the BVAS devices, erase and destroy evidence of its manipulation of the presidential election, deny Nigerians and political parties, especially our party and candidate access to relevant information required to prosecute our case at the presidential election tribunal.
"From all indications, the INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu was compromised to rig the election by brazenly violating the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as well as INEC's regulations, guidelines and manual issued for the election.
"It is also obvious that the commission under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu deliberately sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results directly from the polling units to give room for the criminal mutilation, alteration and switching of election results across the nation in favour of the APC as now abundantly exposed in the pictorial and video evidence of compromised results sheets in many parts of the country.
"Several evidence abounds in states across the six geo-political zones of the country where winning figures lawfully scored by the PDP were switched in favour of the APC; where results sheet from polling centers won by the PDP were destroyed and replaced with fake results sheets in which APC was allocated unearned winning figures.
"This further explains why the INEC chairman rushed to announce and declare manipulated results that were not transmitted directly from the polling units to INEC's server/website and ignored the objections and complaints raised during the collation of results in deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 64 (4) (a) and (b), 64 (6) (a)-(d), and 65 (1) (c) of the Electoral Act. 2022.
"For emphasis while Section 64 (4) (a) and (b) expressly require the INEC chairman as the chief returning officer to announce only results that were transmitted directly from the polling units, Sections 64 (6) (a)-(d) and 65 (1) (c) compel INEC, in the case of disputes, complaints or objections regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, to take steps including the review of collation where they are made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations, guidelines and manual issued for the election.
"By flagrantly violating these provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as well as INEC's regulations, guidelines and manual for the election, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is not only culpable of serious electoral offence but also betrayed, thrashed and threw overboard the trust, confidence and hope Nigerians reposed in him and the electoral commission to deliver a free, fair and credible election in the country.
"The continuing stay of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in office as chairman of INEC is therefore vexatious, injurious to the integrity of the electoral commission and an unpardonable assault to the credibility of our electoral process, the sensibility of Nigerians and the international community.
INEC Rejects Calls For Resignation
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, The chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said, "The latest call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), just like it did previously for the resignation of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is misplaced.
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Oyekanmi said, "The PDP did not provide any convincing evidence to back up all the spurious allegations it listed as Prof. Yakubu's "infractions".
To be sure, he said the PDP failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the allegations of Yakubu's "brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC's Regulations and Guidelines, and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results".
He said the PDP also did not give the evidence to prove its claims that Prof. Yakubu "sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results from polling units."
Oyekanmi said besides, the "several evidences" that the PDP claimed "abound in the six geo-political zones of the country where winning figures scored by the PDP were switched in favour of the APC" were also not laid bare.
To be sure, he said the commission does not rig elections.
Rather, he said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has, since its introduction, among other innovations, ensured the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring that only properly registered voters are allowed to vote on Election Day.
