March 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The chairman of Nigeria’s electoral commission, Mahmood Yakubu, has vowed to hand over all materials related to the February presidential election to the opposition, after leading candidates denounced irregularities and filed legal proceedings to annul the results.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labor Party have asked for access to the data to support their demands and the second formation has threatened to call nationwide protests if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not provide them. .
“I want to guarantee that the commission will not hide any document from anyone and that it will make available any document that is claimed,” said Yakubu, who confirmed having received a notification from the Labor Party demanding this access, as reported by the Nigerian news agency. NAN.
Thus, he has emphasized that the body “has nothing to hide” and has said that “everything that is requested will be delivered.” “We will provide the available documents,” he stated, before specifying that the data on accreditation covers 176,000 polling stations.
“We have to print them, physically certify them and deliver them. We will do it quickly,” stressed Yakubu, who has asked Labor Party lawyers to contact INEC’s legal team to start these jobs.
The president of the government’s All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adami, acknowledged on Monday that the elections “were not perfect”, although he stressed that “the world does not have examples of perfect elections.” “Like the rest of the democratic nations, we hold free, fair and credible elections,” he defended.
“For the first time in living memory there have been no allegations of vote buying and other ills associated with holding our elections. Manipulation may not be dead, but it has been beheaded. Our democracy is maturing, and we with it.” argument.
In this sense, Adamu asserted that the published results show that “the APC won the Presidency clearly, as well as a majority in both houses of Parliament.” as reported by the Nigerian newspaper ‘The Premium Times’.
Opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar, of the PDP, and Peter Obi, of the Labor Party, announced that they will appeal the results to the courts, arguing that there have been irregularities. Both claim to have won, although the INEC has declared the candidate of the government party, Bola Tinubu, the winner.
For their part, the authorities of six Nigerian states filed a complaint against the Government before the Supreme Court in relation to the alleged irregularities registered in the presidential elections of February 25, arguing that the recount “was not carried out in line with the clauses of the relevant sections of the Electoral Law, the rules of the electoral commission and the manual for officials of the electoral commission”.
The winner of the election will replace Muhammadu Buhari, who was unable to run because he has already served the term limit set by the Nigerian Constitution. The elections also mark the first time since the return of the country to civilian rule in 1999 in which none of the candidates is a former military leader, as was the case with Buhari, who led the country between December 1983 and August. 1985 after a coup.
