By Godfrey AKON
The call by Labour Party, LP, and the Peoples Democratic Democratic Party, PDP, on the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to resign has been described as misplaced.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, stated this in a statement on Tuesday, following series of press conferences by some political parties discrediting the process of collation of the presidential election results.
Oyekanmi also described the allegation by PDP’s Agent, Sen. Dino Melaye, that INEC chairman allocated scores to parties as unfounded and irresponsible.
He notated that “contrary to the insinuation by both parties, results emanating from the states point to a free, fair and credible process.”
The chief press secretary further stated that there are laid down procedures for aggrieved parties or candidates to follow when they are dissatisfied about the outcome of an election, adding that such procedures do not include calling on the INEC Chairman to resign or for the election to be cancelled.
“To be sure, aggrieved parties are free to approach the courts to ventilate their concerns and wait for the matter to be resolved. Making inciting comments capable of causing violence or unrest is unacceptable.
“The 2023 General election processes are in their final stages of completion. It is only fair for aggrieved parties to allow the conclusion of the process and approach the courts with their evidences to pursue their cases,” he said.
It would be recalled that the two parties had stormed out of the National Collation Centre at the International Conference Centre, ICC, in Abuja on Monday, alleging discrepancies in the process of collation of results.
The parties had accused INEC of compromise, contending that contrary to the provision of the Electoral Act 2022, results of the election were not uploaded on the INEC Results Viewing Portal, IReV, urging the chairman of the commission to resign
