By Uche Mbah
Respite may not have come to the ruling party as former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is still poised to go to Court to challenge the victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Presidential Polls.
Yesterday, Atiku met with Abdulsalami Abubakar, Chairman of the Peace Committee. It is under their umbrella that the Peace Accord was signed by both parties before the elections.
The meeting was held in the presence of Peter Obi, his Vice Presidential Candidate; Bishop Hassan Kukkah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese; John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Bishop of the Metropolitan See of Abuja and Reverend Father Atta Barkindo.
Nevertheless, Atiku, describing the election as the worst in 20 years since the country returned to participatory democracy, reportedly insisted that tensions are building up in the land, and may result in actions that may not be controlled if the federal government does not take action. He presented a shopping list of demands that must be met if the country is to remain calm in the face of “brazen robbery”, according to sources. This includes presidential order outlawing the use of the military in the coming polls because, according to him, it is in total disregard to a Supreme Court ruling. This has resulted in the Independent electoral commission, INEC officers collaborating with the Military and the ruling party to rig the elections. He also demanded that INEC should open its back server to all participating parties. Finally, he demanded for the release of all opposition party members detained because of the elections.
It will be recalled that the INEC server conveniently went down on the eve of the collation of the results, making it difficult to access the site for the already uploaded results of the presidential elections.
There has also been talks of arrest and interrogation of former INEC chairman, Maurice Iwu, a situation that has not been independently confirmed by this Magazine. However, allegations are that Iwu’s crime was leaking the results he got from his contacts in the commission to the Social media and the opposition. Iwu has been an adviser to the PDP. The arrest of Buba Galadima, who has been speaking for the PDP, was also linked to it, though Galadima himself avoided discussion of his incarceration on live interview with Arise Television.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, Chairman of the Committee, promised to take the demands to the President when the Committee meets him in Aso Rock, advising both parties to maintain the peace.
