Politics
Amidst complains of electoral fraud, APC set for celebration
National Daily gathered that from results announced so far by INEC at the Abuja National Collation Center, it became crystal clear that President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC Presidential candidate for the election is coasting to victory.
Party supporters and members who were mostly youths, were seen in high spirit at the APC Presidential Campaign Office as they expressed delight at the results announced so far.
While some of the youths were seen dancing on the street, others were busy putting finishing touches to the already arranged party stage with cake and other items on display.
Twelve presidential candidates from other political parties had earlier endorsed Buhari’s candidacy after withdrawing from the presidential race two days to the election, saying he was the best for the country at the moment.
Meanwhile the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday asked Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to discontinue the announcement of the presidential election results.
The PDP demanded that the announcement be placed on hold for INEC to release data of the accreditation done by card readers in the election.
The party made the call at a press conference by Kabiru Turaki, deputy director-general of the PDP presidential campaign organisation, addressed in Abuja on Tuesday.
Twenty-eight states have so far been announced by INEC at the national collation centre in Abuja.
But PDP said votes cast it in its strongholds were cancelled, “particularly in Yobe, Nasarawa, Zamfara and Plateau.”
“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 a 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 cancelled 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 cancelled 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.”