The All Progressives Congress (APC) called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently initiate a process of internal audit and review of how the 2023 general elections were managed before conducting rerun elections in states where the polls were declared inconclusive.
APC also alleged cases of compromise in Kebbi state, saying it would be uncomfortable if the same INEC officials who conducted the last governorship election are deployed for the rerun election billed to hold in April 2023.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, national vice chairman (North West) of the APC, Mallam Salihu Moh Lukman, said results would have been declared inconclusive if the same standard had been applied.
He said, “One of those cases is Kebbi State for instance. Not because I’m APC and I think being APC, we have a right to complain about that. Just take all the results of all the 36 states, you would find out that different standards applied.
“There is also the case of Kano, which should have been declared inconclusive if the standard of Kebbi had been applied in Kano. But these are general issues which I thought I should call on INEC to do an internal audit of the management process of the last election and begin to fix things.”
Asking the electoral body to commence internal audit, Lukman said, I want to use this opportunity to call on INEC to as a matter of urgency initiate the process of internal review of how the 2023 general elections was managed. And as part of that review, they must address issues of ethical conduct of their own staff, including the returning officers.
“I am a critic of the choice of INEC using academic staff as Returning Officers. I don’t believe being an academician is equivalent to competence in managing public service, such as a returning officer in an election. There are many cases of Returning Officers compromising themselves to politicians,” he said.
Lukman took a swipe at those calling for the sack of INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, saying it is unfair.
He said, “In fairness to Mahmood, I think that call (Sack) is very unfair. What is really the allegation; that PDP has lost the election, or the Labour Party has lost the election? I mean, we have never had an election that is almost as balanced as the 2023 elections.
“Buhari lost in Katsina, Asiwaju lost in Lagos, our national chairman lost in Nasarawa. Yet look at the ballot; just look at it. It is not your capacity to win states that produced the overall winner; it’s the spread – your ability to win votes across every part, even if you do not come out to be the winner in each state. So what is it really we are complaining about?
“When people go into an election without the capacity to respect their opponents, you end up disputing the result of the election. And as Nigerians, I think we must work hard to bring back the element of respect among ourselves. If I don’t respect myself, I don’t think you will respect me. If I don’t respect myself, I will not respect you. That is the minimum that must be addressed.
“Look at what Jonathan did in 2015. It has been lost completely. It has become a one-off thing. I remember very well – it was before Borno results and Kebbi, he called Buhari and congratulated him. 2019, after the election what happened? Even after signing the so-called Peace Agreement, Atiku didn’t accept the result because he believed he won.
“So, all the calls for Yakubu to resign are because we don’t respect ourselves. We don’t respect the institution and went into an election believing we must win. Who are we? We don’t even respect Nigerians. How can I go into an election, believing that automatically Nigerians will vote for me? Why do we do the election in the first place? I sincerely think the call for Yakubu to resign is unfair.”
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