LP , PDP, ADC Hold Joint Press Conference In Abuja, Call For Yakubu Mahmood’s Removal, Fresh Presidential Election

As  the collation of results of the presidential election held on Saturday, 25 February 2023 continues at the Collation Centre , Abuja, leaders of the two main opposition parties; the PDP and LP  held a joint press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, they were also joined by the ADC National Chairman.  Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu.

They had since demanded that the chairman of the electoral umpire , the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, should step aside while a credible person  should take over and oversee the conduct of a fresh election.

Team@orientactualmags.com  learned the press conference was jointly presided over by National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure,  National Chairman of PDP , former senator Iyorchia Ayu  and National Chairman  of African Democratic Congress. Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu.

The opposition leaders alleged that the presidential election was marred by voter intimidation, doctoring of results , malpractice cases and electoral fraud.

They also accused the INEC Chairman of failing to keep his promise in respect of   having  election results transmitted electronically from the polling stations.

They further alleged that some INEC officials when questioned for not uploading election results had claimed that  they had directives from superiors not to  do so.

INEC had according to them  compromised integrity of the elections  even before the collation of the election results submitting that it was not free and far from being fair or transparent.

The party leaders added that the requirement that  transmission of  results  should be done electronically   in compliance with the  electoral act  was not satisfied while the commission had resorted to  crude standard that  had been  used before the introduction of  Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ,BVAS.

The opposition party leaders  also noted that  cancelation of results in some places had rendered  the election  inconclusive and that it had been   irretrievably compromised,  PDP, LP, and ADC will therefore   according to them not be part of the ongoing collation of election results.

While  calling  for a fresh election , they have also asked Professor Yakubu Mahmood to step aside and allow a credible person to be in charge of the conduct of a fresh election.

They also called on the international community to note that the election results being announced did not reflect the wishes of the people having being allegedly doctored and manipulated.

‘Section 60 sub-section 5 of the Electoral Act says that the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballots in a manner as prescribed by the commission.

A failure to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the guidelines makes it imperative that all results recently uploaded on the IReV portal must be updated before they are announced.

INEC went back on that promise…This election is not free and far from being fair and transparent.

We shall not be part of the electoral process currently going on at the National Collation Centre and we demand that this sham of an election be immediately cancelled.

We also call for a fresh election to be carried out in accordance to the laid down INEC procedure.

We therefore call on Yakubu to step aside from his role.

We have a responsibility to the millions of Nigerians who put their faith in us and our presidential candidates to defend our country from the forces that seek to tear us apart.

We are calling on President Mohammadu Buhari to stand by his promise to Nigerians to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections to the country

President Buhari this is the time of great test of your integrity use your good offices to save Nigeria from this electoral mismanagement and save your legacy that seek to mar your democratic legacy’ the  three opposition parties submitted in a prepared text read that was by the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure-Team@orientactualmags.com
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