Why INEC Should Suspend Results Announcement – PDP

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been urged to discontinue the announcement of the presidential election results.

The call was made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at a press conference by Kabiru Turaki, deputy director-general of the PDP presidential campaign organization in Abuja today.

The party demanded that the announcement is placed on hold for INEC to release data of the accreditation done by card readers in the election.

Twenty-eight states have so far been announced by INEC at the national collation center in Abuja.

But PDP said votes cast it in its strongholds were canceled, “particularly in Yobe, Nasarawa, Zamfara, and Plateau.”

“The PDP demands the immediate discontinuation of the announcement until data from the use of card readers are made available,” Turaki said.

“The data are being reconfigured to align with the manipulations carried out in various polling units across the country.”

“We have evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been seriously tampered with and manipulated.”

The party also asked INEC to cancel presidential election results in Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Borno states and conduct of fresh elections in these states.

It said while the total number of votes cast was higher than the accredited voters in Yobe, “in Zamfara, no actual voting took place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the entire state.”

The PDP added: “Also in Borno state, there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders.

“We also demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records and conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Borno state.

“In Nasarawa, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 157, 000 lawful and valid votes which were unlawfully and arbitrarily canceled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results from the field.

“Similarly, the PDP demands an immediate restoration of our over 79, 000 valid votes which were unlawfully canceled by INEC in Kogi state and the announcement of the authentic results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes.”

It called on Nigerians to disregard the results being announced: “until INEC provides the data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units, conducts fresh election in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states as well as restore our votes in Plateau, FCT, Kogi and Nasarawa states.”