PDP candidates to INEC, audit results/BVAS, declare us winners

PDP Candidates in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly election in Lagos have berated INEC for having undermined the credibility of the process, calling for a quick BVAS/ result audit to save the day.

The party’s Lagos West Senatorial candidate Deacon Segun Adewale along side other NASS candidates in a news conference on Thursday called on INEC to audit and review all collated results with Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the Lagos West and Lagos Central Senatorial Districts.

The PDP candidates all maintained that they won the elections if the results obtained by their agents from each of the polling units in their constituencies and districts as contained in INEC Form EC8A used to record votes is anything to go by.

According to them, INEC must use the window of seven days allowed by law to compare and audit results announced with the one transmitted through BVAS into INEC IReV (result viewing portal)

Adewale’s counterpart in Lagos Central, Prince Wale Gomez, Mr Olumuyiwa Owadara, the PDP Reps Candidate in Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency I and his counterpart in Somolu, Mr Oluwaseyi Olowu (Chicago) were all in attendance and also cited lots of disparities and anomalies observed in the process.

Adewale fondly known as Aeroland, however, while expressing how shocked he was about the complicity of the supposed umpire of the process, queried the fact that until Wednesday 1st of March INEC was still yet to come out clean on the collation, summation and BVAS uploading of all results especially across the NASS constituencies and senatorial districts.

In his view this simply faults INEC’s seemingly hasty declaration of winners.

“No collation was done at the wards and local governments, results were not compared all they did was to announce a pre-written result.

“There were also no summation of the results, over 90 percent of form EC8A were not signed, in Oshodi Isolo, Lagos Mainland and other areas agents refused to sign due to the fact that it does not reflect the real situation.

“One cannot but wonder is INEC now a subsidiary of APC?

Adewale insisted that going by what transpired at polling unit across the 10 LGAs in Lagos West and other districts they ought to have been declared winners.

“I saw a lot of people talking about having a rerun, we don’t need that let them declare us winners because we actually won the election right at the polling units, wards and local governments with wide margin of votes garnered.

“I urge INEC to use the seven days window in the new electoral law to attend to the complaints and do a review.

“This cheating is just too much. What we experienced at the poll was stealing of people’s mandate brazenly and they are damning the consequences.

” How can the electoral umpire connive with some politicians to turn my results upside down. I even defeat my rival from APC (Dr Idiat Adebule) in her polling unit in Ojo LGA.

“All we are saying is that let us have a summation of Form EC8A. This is not too much to ask INEC.

“Our agents refused to sign because the results that we have with us are different from the results INEC brought there for collation.

“The results being collated at different level must be the summation of EC8A, EC8B, EC8C and EC8D. Let INEC upload it and sum it.

“I have my results all over, it is disheartening to hear I lost elections when in actual fact you cooked up figures not minding what happened at the polling units and fact check by BVAS,” Adewale said.

He hinted that PDP’s field agents had results from all the polling units in Lagos West Senatorial District comprising 10 LGAs but the summation/collation of those results at Ward and local government levels were obviously altered.

“There is no need for rerun, our results show that we won. The Form EC8A shows that we won. This Form is our only saving grace but INEC refuse to upload this,” he added.

He alleged that during collation votes that accrued to him were deliberately reduced in areas like Amuwo-Odofin, Ajeromi Ifelodun, Oshodi-Isolo, Agege, Ojo and other LGAs.

“Right now, what we have seen on our own Form EC8A is totally different from about 30 per cent of results INEC uploaded thus far on the INEC IREV portal for results viewing,” he added.

Adewale said that if nothing was done to the petition asking INEC to review the election results, the group would have no option other than to approach the court to retrieve their allegedly stolen mandate.

According to him, all entreaties to collation officers at various levels of collations to fact check the results with BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) proved abortive.

Also speaking, Gomez explained that his LGA agent refused to signp the results, “because what he got in his hand is different from what INEC staff were producing for collation.”

Also Speaking, Owadara, the Chairman, Forum of PDP House of Representatives’ Candidates for 2023 General Election said that the group was not going to accept the result.

“We will pursue it and we are ready to go to any length to get back our mandate. We are not accepting the results,” he said.

Owadara said that he also won the election but so many polling units were scattered by political thugs to disrupt the exercise.

INEC had collated results and announced winners of the federal constituencies and senatorial districts, which mostly favoured APC and Labour Party candidates.

Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations of manipulation by PDP, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Olusegun Agbaje, said that it had become difficult if not impossible for anyone to change election results, nowadays.

INEC has so far uploaded 147,578 results from 176, 846 polling units, five days after the presidential election, representing 83 per cent.

However, INEC has been under fire for its failure to upload results to its viewing portal as Nigerians expected that the election results would be uploaded on election day as promised by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.