Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately cancel election results in parts of the country where the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines were bypassed during accreditation.

The CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, recalled that “the BVAS is an electronic device designed to authenticate voters during accreditation based on the 2023 electoral guidelines.

“The legal framework for conducting the 2023 elections consists of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended; the Electoral Act, 2022; and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Election Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of the elections.

“When the commission introduced the BVAS machines into the Nigerian electoral system, the compact device was intended to serve as the only means of verification of the genuineness of the PVCs through the fingerprint or facial authentication of voters during accreditation. All verifications outside the BVAS are invalid.

“On the other hand, uploading the polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) was intended to be in real-time on election day, which was substantially not the case.

“So, we are afraid that the election results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were suspiciously delayed because even results from different major cities across the country with good internet connections were not uploaded real-time to the INEC results portal.

“In the same vein, INEC officials were also being accused of paypassing the use of BVAS machines for accreditation in some parts of the country, expecially in the North East and North West, leading to allegations of massive thumb-printing and stuffing of ballot boxes.

“Another very noticeable anomaly is on viral videos where clearly under-aged voters in some states were seen thumb-printing ballot papers in parts of the North.

“The use of violence to scare voters as well as vote-buying persisted in parts of the country throughout the presidential and national assembly elections on Saturday.

“We, therefore, call on the electoral body to exercise its powers under the law to cancel results of polling units where violence, vote buying or mass Thumb-printing of ballot papers took place.

“Polling unit officials deployed by the Commission were accused of bypassing the BVAS machines, which is the only means of accreditation of voters. This is not in compliance with the electoral guidelines for the 2023 general elections as released by INEC and any election result from such polling unit must be canceled and rerun ordered.

“We also call on the international community to note these observations and pressure INEC to do the needful by ensuring compliance to its own guidelines.

“The current delay in announcing the results of the presidential election is even raising more suspicion that INEC has an ulterior motive or is acting a script to produce a particular candidate other than the one voted for by Nigerians”, the CNPP stated.

By Charles Igbo

The Nigerian Army has intercepted a bus filled with Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Policemen and fake Soldiers driving round, and manipulating Results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State.

The interception was made in Akwa Ibom State by vigilant Soldiers. The criminals were driving round  the State, collecting Ballot Boxes at Polling Units, and corrupting the results.

In a number of viral videos, hoodlums, and men in Military and Police uniforms were seen, especially, in Rivers State, storming Polling Units and snatching ballot boxes. Sadly, they went about unchallenged by Security Agents on duty.

In one particular Polling Unit in Delta State, three Policemen on Election Duties, were caught with scores of ballot papers, thump-printing them in favour of a political party.

In the instant case in Akwa Ibom State, the Army said it has handed over the suspects to the Police Command, Akwa Ibom.

At the time of filing this report, the Police was yet to issue a statement on the shameful incident.

By Adesina Soyooye

The Southern and Middle Belt Forum, SMBLF, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to discontinue with “the disgrace it calls Collation of Results.”

Reacting to the many breaches which accompanied the Presidential Election held on Saturday, 25th February 2023, SMBLF said INEC, by its shabby conduct of the Election, has reduced Nigeria to a joke before the International Community.

In a statement issued on February 27, SMBLF said the conduct of the election was unacceptable to the body, and has created mistrust between the people and INEC.

It said: “The conduct of INEC on Voter inclusivity, security, punctuality, logistics, deployments, integrity, and compliance to Electoral Act on electronic transmission of results has, unfortunately, created very serious mistrust between the electorates and INEC, casting very serious doubts not only to their status as fair and unbiased umpire, but very importantly on the credibility of the results that they are collating and announcing even without uploading most of the Polling Unit Result Sheets to their Server as required by law”

It also mocked the Press Statement issued by INEC on Sunday, 26th of February, and posited that it was riddled with gaps which are incongruous with good judgment and reason.”

The statement called on Nigerians, especially, the Youths, who it said have endured “all forms of intimidation and threats to their lives for the sustenance of democracy in the country to demand that votes must count.”

Following is the full text of the statement and the signatories.

“We, the Members of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) have over the years, and especially in the run-up to the 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria, insisted on an inclusive Nigeria that embraces all ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender and demographic groups and especially the youths of the country.

“Our vision of a Nigerian Federation is firmly anchored on the cardinal democratic principles of the rule of law, equality, equity, fairness and justice. It was in recognition of these principles that we adopted Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Mr. Ahmed Datti of the Labour Party as embodiments of these very lofty aspirations.

“2. The hopes for a new Nigeria have been so eloquently expressed not only in the continuous voter registration process which saw the largest numbers of youth registration but also the largest voter turn-out in the history of elections in the country.

“We commend the Nigerian people especially the youths for their uncommon demonstration of patriotism. The zeal to salvage their country, Nigeria, through a peaceful, democratic election is unsurpassed. They showed exceptional courage against all odds in order to exercise their civic responsibility. They endured long hours stretching into the wee hours of the morning in the queue, to vote and to ensure their votes are not only counted but also matter. They withstood voter intimidation, suppression and violence to exercise their constitutional rights. We salute the young woman who in spite of severe injuries she sustained to her face returned very gallantly to vote for the candidate of her choice.

“3. We feel very constrained, in spite of the commendable progress in the evolutionary process in the consolidation of our democracy, to note with concern the egregious and unacceptable conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct, transmission & collation of the various results of the election across the Nation.

“The conduct of INEC on voter inclusivity, security, punctuality, logistics deployments, integrity and compliance to Electoral Act on electronic transmission of results has unfortunately created very serious mistrust between the electorates and INEC casting very serious doubts not only to their status as fair and unbiased umpire but very importantly on the credibility of the results that they are collating and announcing even without uploading most of the Polling Unit Result Sheets to their server as required by law. Apart from the fact that none of the 176,846 Polling Unit Results was electronically transmitted online real-time, evidences abound of faint Result Sheets uploaded, completely illegible.

“Video evidences of INEC Officials caught falsifying election results at local collation centres and voters attacked and locked out from voting on grounds of their tribe, religion or party affiliation are numerous in public domain, including destruction of ballots by hoodlums and senior Govt officials while security men watched without acting; under-aged voting, among many infractions that would suggest ill-preparation and/or collusion. There were senior partisan Govt officials interference at INEC Collation Centres to influence results, which could not have been possible had the results been transmitted electronically at the polling units as expected; and all available evidence points to one “favored political party gettingg away with murder”, thereby denying others ‘level playing field’.

“4. We find the Press Statement which the Independent National Electoral Commission issued on Sunday, 26 February, 2023, riddled with gaps which are incongruous with good judgement and reason.  It is indeed jejune to argue that the reason for the gaps is because the servers which were used for off-season state elections were not reconfigured to meet the needs and requirement of the national elections. At the heart of the technological innovation which INEC so proudly proclaimed was the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to accredit voters and uploading of the results from the various Polling Units (PU) to the central Server. It is very doubtful that the failure of the BVAS to upload only the presidential results to the server is a systems glitch, as INEC would want us to believe. The unfortunate effect, is not only the deep mistrust of the independence and unbiased status of INEC but it has by the very singular misstep cast very serious doubts on its ability to deliver to the country, a free, fair and credible election.

“5. We cannot allow our dreams of a new Nigeria where leaders and its institution of governance are accountable to the people to die of administrative oversight and incompetence.

“We call on the Nigerian people and the youths who have endured all forms of intimidation and threats to their lives for the sustenance of democracy in the country to demand that votes must count and call on INEC to show incontrovertible evidence that all the votes uploaded to their server and those held by all the party agents tally.

“We urge the Nigerian people and especially youths to stand in unison to defend the sanctity of their mandate. They must not let their mandate, future and country be taken away from them on account of a convoluted technical sophistry.

“6. We unequivocally request INEC to immediately discontinue the national provocation called “National Collation of Presidential Result”, and retrace her steps back to where the ‘breach of process’ started; which is the real-time transmission of results at the polling units. Nigerians are ready to return to their Polling units to complete the process by certifying that the same results which copy is with every party Agent is uploaded and collated. Alternatively, all political parties can sit with INEC to reconcile the results and upload them accordingly before any national collation and announcements. The present attempt to ‘collate and announce unreconciled results’ – which are products of suspicious process breach will be tantamount to Electoral manipulation, a recipe for chaos and destabilization. Furthermore, adequate security and logistics must be deployed for all the remaining Polling Unit elections, especially for all those areas where non-indigenes were threatened and disenfranchised.

“7. We sincerely thank the teams of International Monitors and Observers, for their presence in our Country at these very important and historic elections. We call on the International Community which they represent to hold INEC accountable for the egregious breaches of the Electoral Law 2022 and any outcomes of the 2023 Presidential Elections in Nigeria.

“We equally urge the international community to engage and put pressure on the Federal Government of Nigeria to protect the mandate of the Nigerian people which was willingly expressed through a democratic electoral process on Saturday, 25 February, 2023. And to ensure full compliance and rectification of any deviation from the electoral process flow.

“We remain unequivocally committed to a Nigerian Federation where justice, equity, fairness and equality is enthroned and where no man no matter his ethnicity, religion or party affiliation is oppressed.

Chief Edwin Clarke, CFR – Leader Pandef

Chief Ayo Adabanjo, CON – Leader Afenifere

Dr. Bitrus Pogu – Leader Middle Belt Forum

Chief Simon Okeke OFR – Representing Ohanaeze Ndigbo

1. Chief (Dr) Chukwuemeka Ezeife – Chairman Igbo Elders Consultative Forum

Babachir Lawal – Former SGF

Amb. Okey Emutchay – Secretary General Ohanaeze Ndigbo.