Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has raised serious allegations against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing them of deceiving Nigerians with their recently released election report.
In a statement by Dr. Yunusa Tanko, the Chief Spokesperson for the Obi-Datti Campaign Committee, Obi criticized the INEC report as “medicine after death,” implying that it was too late and lacked credibility.
Obi contested the explanation provided by INEC in its 526-page report, which addressed the failure of the IREV to upload presidential results despite the smooth functioning of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS). While INEC attributed the challenge to technical glitches that were later resolved, Obi dismissed this explanation as deceitful.
He highlighted the disparity between the successful upload of results for the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate, compared to the alleged failure in the presidential election. Obi questioned why there would be an issue specifically with the presidential election, suggesting foul play on the part of INEC.
Furthermore, Obi pointed out contradictions in INEC’s actions, referencing previous statements where INEC declared that they would not accept any result not posted on the IREV. He also criticized INEC’s resort to manual collation of results, despite their earlier stance on electronic transmission.
Obi emphasized the need for accountability within INEC, calling for the responsible parties to be held to account for the alleged glitches. He expressed frustration with the duration of the technical issues, stating that they should have been swiftly resolved.
Concluding his remarks, Obi called for a revisitation of electoral laws to ensure transparency and to minimize reliance on the judiciary to determine election outcomes. He advocated for elections to be concluded at the polling units to avoid ambiguity and potential manipulation.
The allegations raised by Peter Obi add to the ongoing scrutiny surrounding the conduct of the 2023 elections and further fuel debates on electoral integrity and accountability in Nigeria.
