The Igbo Patriotic Forum (IFP), a pan-Igbo socio-political group, has appealed to Nigerians to come out en masse and exercise their legitimate right by voting candidates of their choice at the gubernatorial and state assembly elections as they honestly did in the last presidential election.
Chairman of the forum, Chief Simon Okeke, made the appeal yesterday at a media briefing in Abuja on the just concluded presidential election.
Okeke expressed disappointment in the just concluded presidential election, saying after the humongous budget demanded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to procure BVAS to make the elections absolutely free and fair, that same machine could not work at the critical time it was supposed to work.
He said, “Unfortunately, we have to wait for the courts to determine the actual winner of this election. Nevertheless, we still call upon the good people of this country, the youths and elders to remain calm and law abiding as this process goes ahead.
“In spite of this monumental fraud, we should not lose hope since we are on the road to seek justice in the courts. We pray that God will give our judiciary the courage to uphold justice and truth in deciding this case.
“We wish to call upon our people once again, to come out on Saturday March 11, and exercise their legitimate right to vote for their choice at the forthcoming gubernatorial and state houses assembly elections.”
The forum also applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for the security guarantee he has given for all to come out and exercise their franchise in peace and safety.
It also appealed to the president to give all the necessary budgetary and logistic support to the inspector general of police and his team to reopen, as soon as possible, all the police stations in the South East region currently closed down for over three years now.
IPF added that this had led to the insecurity in the zone, compelling the people to obey senseless sit at home order out of sheer gear.
The forum also thanked South and Middle Belt Forum leaders for standing with them in the advocacy that in the interests of justice, equity, fair play and to cement Nigeria unity, the South East geopolitical zone should be given the chance to produce a successor to outgoing president Buhari.
