…says party members upset over inconclusive polls
The Presidency yesterday declared that President Muhammadu Buhari would not influence the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to change results in favour of any candidate in the forthcoming supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday, March 23.
Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were already angry with him for failing to interfere and make things work in their favour.
The President explained that INEC remained fully in charge of its responsibilities and would do the needful without hindrance from him.
He lamented the situation in the past where former Presidents played roles in influencing inconclusive elections in the country.
The President cautioned against hate spewing, incitement to violence and the polarizing statements by so-called political leaders as a number of states brace up for supplementary elections.
He said: “The Presidency also rejects unfair and ridiculous criticisms of President Buhari’s apparent disinterest in the upcoming elections in some states by party members who wrongfully assume that the President will abuse power by changing results to favour them.
“Past Presidents of Nigeria were known to interfere in inconclusive elections, and that is why party members appear to be upset that the same thing is not happening now, but President Buhari is a different kind of leader. He swore to defend the constitution and will not veer off from that.
“The constitution of Nigeria gives the President no such powers. It is unfair and ridiculous to criticise President Buhari for not going against the constitution.
“Party members in states where there will be supplementary elections then need to be reminded that they need to work hard to earn their people’s votes, rather than expect President Buhari to manipulate INEC in their favour.
“Interestingly, while members of the ruling party, the APC, were criticising the President for not interfering on their behalf, members of the opposition were condemning the President based on their assumptions that he would definitely interfere, as many in the opposition did while in power.
“Under President Buhari, INEC had been and will be completely independent throughout the elections, free from any interference.”
The President noted that he remained a man of conviction.
“The manipulation of election results goes against everything he stands for. INEC is completely in charge,” the statement added. INEC has rescheduled governorship supplementary elections in Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Adamawa, and Sokoto states while collation of Rivers State was suspended. Among the candidates whose fate would be decided by the re-run polls expected to hold on March 23rd are Governor Aminu Tambuwal (PDP) and his former deputy, Ahmad Aliyu (APC) in Sokoto State as well as Abdullahi Ganduje (APC) and Abba Yusuf (PDP) in Kano State.
Others are Governor Samuel Ortom (PDP) and Emmanuel Jime (APC) in Benue State; Governor Jibrila Bindow (APC) and Ahmadu Fintiri (PDP) in Adamawa State, and Governor Simon Lalong and Senator Jeremiah Useni in Plateau State.
Reasons cited by the electoral commission for declaring the polls in the states as inconclusive include over-voting, non-usage of card readers to accredit voters and violence, among others.
Meanwhile, the APC has accused INEC and security agencies of working for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, also accused the INEC of violating the constitution and Electoral Act by reversing the results announced by Returning Officers. According to the party, the decisions of INEC to alter results announced by the returning officers or declare election won by APC candidates as inconclusive was against the provisions of the constitution and Electoral Act. However, APC assured its supporters of victory in the supplementary elections.
“As a party, the APC is very confident of victory in the forthcoming supplementary elections. Our commitment to free and fair elections in the country remains resolute. We urge INEC to ensure that all loopholes that led to vote buying and intimidation of voters by the PDP is blocked,” the party stated. Onilu said that in Benue State, the 81,000 votes margin with which the PDP was leading was bogus and was a dodgy figure, “an aggregate of ‘votes’ obtained by subterfuge not from the numbers recorded by the card reader.”
He said: “There were cases in Logo, Gwer-West, Vandeikya, Guma, Buruku and Gboko local governments where the card reader was not used.
“In Guma, a local government predominated by the APC, zero votes were allocated to our candidate by thugs loyal to the governor of the state, as agents of the party were chased away and election materials diverted and ballot papers thumb-printed for the governorship candidate of the PDP,” he said.
APC expressed worries over an alleged alliance between Governor Nyesom Wike, PDP and INEC “to prevent Rivers people from electing a candidate of their choice by imposing Wike, the PDP candidate, on them.”
The party warned INEC to put a halt to what it termed madness and brazen illegality. “The desperation of the PDP governorship candidate, Governor Nyesom Wike, to remain in office even if it means destroying the state and killing its people, is throwing the state into turmoil and crisis,” APC said.
It also called for the redeployment of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga, whom it accused of being very close to Wike.
Onilu also warned the PDP not to delude itself that it was winning Kano State, insisting that the Kano electorate are not deceived.
The party, however, said that it rejected INEC’s decision on the governorship election results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area in Bauchi State. The party contended that it was against the statement signed by INEC’s National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye. It said: “While the close relationship between Festus Okoye, who chaired the fact-finding committee and Yakubu Dogara of the PDP is well known, hence inappropriate for the factfinding exercise for Bauchi State, INEC has failed to adhere to the fundamental principle of fair-hearing by not inviting our agents during the hearing to ascertain the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the Tafawa Balewa Local Government election result.” It also added that the APC would win the election in Sokoto, which it said was a traditional APC state. It said that there was over voting in Adamawa State by agents of the PDP, but said that it was confident that its candidate, Governor Jibrilla Bindow, would win the state after the election.