Former provost marshal of the Nigerian Army and a leader in the South-South zone, Brigadier-General Idada Ikponmwen (rtd), has berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its failure to adhere to the provision of the 2022 Electoral Acts in the conduct of the February 25,2023 presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections.
Speaking to journalists yesterday in Benin City, Edo State, Ikponmwen said, INEC raised the hope of having a free, fair and credible elections, devoid of violence, ballot box snatching by the introduction of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the 2022 Electoral Acts, but disappointed Nigerians by its failure to transmit the results of the presidential election results electronically through the BVAS.
He said, “I must say that INEC failed. Most international observers, including many ambassadors in Nigeria condemned the result.
The reasonable thing for INEC to do was to address the complaints and these results that were not coming, decide what to do with the areas where there was violence, before you announce the result.
“In all, I can’t give a pass mark to the INEC authorities and I think under any circumstance they ought to be sanctioned. It is either something is properly done or it’s not done at all. You can’t say you have done it, where you have not done it well! If INEC does not want to keep the provision of the Electoral Act of 2022, why did they do it?
“Why did you give Nigerians false hope? Nigerians were rejoicing that we now have a solution for violence, snatching of ballot boxes and other things. In all, INEC has failed and cannot be commended.
“I know those who contested the election are aggrieved, but at the end of the day, they will not be the only ones that will be aggrieved. What is wrong is that those who have conducted the election did not follow the procedure that was entrenched in our laws.”
The constitutional lawyer also added that section 143 subsection 2b is very clear in the legal debate status of the Federal Capital Territory before any candidate can be declared a winner.
“Where two or more contestants are contesting, such candidate must have 25 percent of the votes cast in each of the states in 2/3 of the 36 states and Abuja. The law didn’t say including Abuja if they wanted to include Abuja they would have said including Abuja. We must in interpreting our laws give it the literal meaning and not be politicized,” he added.
He called on Edo electorates to vote for candidates of their choice in Saturday’s state house of assembly election warning that any government without viable opposition will turn into a dictatorship.
“It was just like the APC who won the whole 24 seats in the Edo State House of Assembly. Then, they were rejoicing that they won all the seats in the House of Assembly, but I said, this is not a good development, as any government without a viable opposition will turn into dictatorship.
“Obaseki is saying vote for my candidate, because of me. The ugly side of it is that the ordinary man will think that you are trying to raise a House of Assembly made up of your puppets,” he said.
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