‘INEC Told Us Emergency Server Will Be Used…Wike Snatched Ballot Boxes’ — Obi’s LP Rejects Presidential Election Results

The Labour Party has rejected the results of Saturday’s presidential election amid the state-by-state announcement of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The announcement was made in a press conference held by the campaign team of the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, hinging its decision on evidence of widespread voter fraud and irregularities in several key states.

Julius Abure, the LP National Chairman who read the text of the press conference, said the exercise “has left millions of Nigerians disappointed and disillusioned because of the unprofessional conduct of state and non-state actors who participated in the process”.

LP’s rejection of the election results has already sparked outrage among its supporters who have taken to social media to express their frustration and disbelief.

Many are calling for an independent investigation into the alleged irregularities, while others are calling for the outright cancellation of elections in some states.

Quoting Abure, “INEC by its conduct, has caused millions of Nigerians, particularly the teeming youth, who took part in this election with high hopes of a free and fair transparent process to hold strong feelings of disappointment and disillusionment. The Electoral Act was amended in 2022 for the electronic transmission of results after they are declared at the polling units.

“Nigerians participated in this process with the belief that the use of technology and adherence to the agreed electronic transmission of results to INEC servers at polling units would ensure free, fair, and transparent election.

“Traditionally, Nigerians know that previous elections witnessed manipulations of results by desperate politicians at collation centres and polling units.

“But, yesterday, Saturday, February 25, 2023, the very process which INEC assured Nigerians would be followed was truncated for whatever reasons. No matter what those reasons are, they are totally unacceptable to Nigerians and members of our party.

“INEC servers shut down, and ONLY PRESIDENTIAL elections could not be uploaded onto the INEC server. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) did not work as planned.

“This failure has undoubtedly given room for manipulating the presidential results being announced by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu at the Collation Centre in Abuja.

“We have sufficient documentary evidence that confirms that manipulations of the presidential election results have occurred in Lagos State, Rivers State, Imo State, parts of Edo State, Delta State, and some Northern states

“These manipulations were carried out under the watchful eyes and connivance of police officers at the various polling units and INEC offices.

“The decision of INEC to go ahead to announce these doctored results based on manufactured voting has defeated the efforts made by Nigerians to see that the Electoral Act was amended to allow for electronic transmission of results.”

Abure recalled that during its meetings with political parties, INEC assured that” “they had a DATA RECOVERY SERVER and in the event of a technical hitch, the emergency server would be used until the main server was brought back online,” adding “We find it difficult to accept the flimsy excuse that the INEC servers were down.”

Continuing, he said “We note the impunity which occurred in the entire Lagos State during the conduct of yesterday’s election.

“There were widespread incidences of violence, ethnic profiling, and threats meted out on Nigerians, particularly those who supported the Labour Party and our Presidential Candidate, His Excellency Mr Peter Obi.

“LP agents report that in places like Agege, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Surulere, Ibeju Lekki, and others where results show that Labour Party won convincingly, INEC officials claimed that the BVAS suddenly developed faults when uploading results of the presidential election.

“The same INEC officials uploaded the results of the National Assembly elections to the server without hitches.

“INEC officials used the police to drive our agents and supporters out of the collation centre. And they said that they have firm instructions from INEC headquarters not to upload.

“In Kosofe, they put the collation centre in a Local Government Area Headquarters. The place is surrounded by APC members, and people fear for their lives. INEC officials were not uploading the results. They said they had been instructed to insist that BVAS are faulty.

“And most of the places we won, but they have refused to upload. APC officials in Yaba, Agege, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, and Surulere offices of INEC were negotiating with the officials.

“In Ibeju Lekki, Labour Party local government chairman and officials who attempted to stop the rigging were arrested by the police. Similar thuggery and rigging occurred in Delta state.”

The LP further accused Governor Nyesom Wike of using thugs and security operatives to snatch ballot boxes and disenfranchising voters through intimidation.

“In Rivers, thugs believed to be agents of the state government invaded various polling units and collation centres, took away election materials, including the results sheets, manipulated the BVAS machines and uploaded fake results into the Central portal.

“We took particular note of incidences in places like Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo, Rumukoro and several other areas where Labour Party was clearly leading in virtually all the polling units with very wide margins.

“Governor Nyesom Wike, faced with the stark reality of defeat even in the polling units in his compound in Worji, where LP scored 323 votes against APC and PDP’s 5 and 2 votes, respectively, he used the soldiers and police to intimidate, harass, and snatched ballot papers.”

Abure added that in Rivers, “INEC’s staff were intimidated by these thugs in connivance with the military personnel and police officers who were deployed to protect them into doing their bidding and were forced to manipulate the BVAS, being afraid of the consequences of their refusal.

“Some of these manipulations happened way late in the night. We demand that INEC investigate these atrocities against Nigerian voters by the political class.

“We are, therefore, asking that INEC should rise to the occasion and cancel all the unverified and manipulated results arising from the presidential and national assembly elections in parts of Rivers, particularly in Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo and Rumukoro amongst others.”