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| A combo picture shows Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and main opposition party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar addressing supporters during campaign rallies ahead of the country’s presidential election in Lagos, Nigeria. Pictures taken accordingly on February 9, 2019 and February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago /Temilade Adelaja/File Photo |
The national chairman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Uche Secondus has rejected the results of the country’s presidential election currently being announced by Nigeria’s electoral body.
Secondus described the results being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission as ‘incorrect and unacceptable’.
“All results currently being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is incorrect thus unacceptable to our party and people,” Secondus said on Monday.
INEC, however, has announced results from only six states and Abuja.
The PDP on Sunday, barely 24 hours after voting closed across the country, asked INEC to announce its candidate Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the election in spite of the result not being centrally collated.
PDP’s spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said the delay in the central collation of the presidential election results was a deliberate attempt by the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Nigerian government to swing the election in its favour.
“In delaying the announcement of the results, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is allowing the APC to turn him into a villain and directly pitching him against the people,” Ologbodiyan said in a statement on Sunday.
“He should therefore extricate himself from the rejected APC and be on the side of the people, by immediately announcing the results as already delivered at the polling units and declare, the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner.”
Secondus’s statement on Monday echoed Ologbondiyan’s statement.
He claimed that Nigerian government officials and members of APC have colluded with INEC officers to “alter the course of history and disenfranchise our people through the cancellation and manipulation of figures for results already announced at polling units.”
Such cancellations and manipulations, Secondus said, were carried “where our party, the PDP, had commanding votes; this must now be resisted by every well meaning Nigerian.”
Although INEC has not responded to the PDP’s claims, the spokesman for Buhari Campaign team said the electoral body has “done a good job”.
The PDP’s comments and attempt to discredit the electoral commission were “an assault on our democracy”, he added.
“The PDP is, in essence and most, unfortunately, saying that if they don’t win fairly then they are willing to tear down the walls to get their way by hook or by crook,” he said.
“In spite of this unjustifiable and provocative stance, we are confident that the results by INEC are free and fair.”
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Secondus described the results being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission as ‘incorrect and unacceptable’.
“All results currently being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is incorrect thus unacceptable to our party and people,” Secondus said on Monday.
INEC, however, has announced results from only six states and Abuja.
The PDP on Sunday, barely 24 hours after voting closed across the country, asked INEC to announce its candidate Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the election in spite of the result not being centrally collated.
PDP’s spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said the delay in the central collation of the presidential election results was a deliberate attempt by the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Nigerian government to swing the election in its favour.
“In delaying the announcement of the results, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is allowing the APC to turn him into a villain and directly pitching him against the people,” Ologbodiyan said in a statement on Sunday.
“He should therefore extricate himself from the rejected APC and be on the side of the people, by immediately announcing the results as already delivered at the polling units and declare, the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner.”
Secondus’s statement on Monday echoed Ologbondiyan’s statement.
He claimed that Nigerian government officials and members of APC have colluded with INEC officers to “alter the course of history and disenfranchise our people through the cancellation and manipulation of figures for results already announced at polling units.”
Such cancellations and manipulations, Secondus said, were carried “where our party, the PDP, had commanding votes; this must now be resisted by every well meaning Nigerian.”
Although INEC has not responded to the PDP’s claims, the spokesman for Buhari Campaign team said the electoral body has “done a good job”.
The PDP’s comments and attempt to discredit the electoral commission were “an assault on our democracy”, he added.
“The PDP is, in essence and most, unfortunately, saying that if they don’t win fairly then they are willing to tear down the walls to get their way by hook or by crook,” he said.
“In spite of this unjustifiable and provocative stance, we are confident that the results by INEC are free and fair.”
In this article: