The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has called for the
immediate cancellation of the general election.
Rufa’i Alkali, the national chairperson of the NNPP, is
currently addressing a press conference in Abuja.
He said the elections were characterised by voter
suppression, intimidation, and vote buying.
Alkali also asked the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to announce a new date for fresh elections.
“We are deeply concerned
that going by what had happened on election day, the election umpire has taken
our country back to pre-2015 era of elections where everything goes, where
voters were deliberately and systematically disenfranchised, where ballot box
snatching and ballot box stuffing was the norm, where voter suppression was
widespread, where violence and vote-buying were the main deciding factors of
the outcome of elections, where security agents openly take side with the
ruling party and participate actively in rigging elections, and where people
who have not participated in an election are declared winners of the election,”
he said.
“For instance, in Kano, Ibrahim Shekarau who formally
resigned from the NNPP, withdrew from the race, registered with the PDP, conveyed
same to the party and to the INEC, is now declared by INEC as the winner of an
election under the NNPP. This is the era that Nigeria’s election umpire, INEC,
has unfortunately, returned our country to.
“At the NNPP, we wish to draw attention to seven fundamental
observations that we believed were deliberately planned between INEC and the
ruling party to compromise the election in favour of the ruling party.
“From the beginning
of the 2023 electioneering process, INEC as a commission has been displaying
incomprehensible hostility towards the NNPP. From the conduct of our congresses
and conventions to the conduct of our primary elections, we suffered
unnecessary and unexplainable resistance and outright sabotage from INEC both
at the state and national levels.
“The most disturbing one was when INEC shut our party from
submitting our candidates onto their server days before the deadline. We had to
go to court and secure judgment to compel INEC to accept our candidates. As if
that was not enough, even after the court judgment, INEC went ahead to appeal
some of the judgments. And to the best of our knowledge, we are the only
political party that INEC has been appealing pre-election cases that we have
won in courts.
“The most shameful of all is the refusal of INEC to use the
correct and legible logo of our party on the ballot papers. The deliberate use
of the illegible logo of our party on the ballot papers of the 2023 general
election by INEC is very unfortunate.
“We were shocked on the election day to discover that INEC
has decided to make use of the most blurred image to represent the logo of
NNPP. It is even more shocking that the blurred image that INEC has put on the
ballot did not include the name of our party.
“Majority of our
supporters found it difficult to identify NNPP on the ballot paper. The key
representation of the NNPP logo is the basket of fruits. But on the INEC ballot
papers, neither the basket nor the fruits can be identified. This did not only
confuse our supporters but deliberately disenfranchised them.”
Alkali added that in the interest of fairness, INEC should
suspend the collation of results and schedule another date for the polls.
“We must be aware that, no matter the situation in our
country all leaders must consider the stability and security of the country as
paramount. Our country is bigger than any individual and is certainly more
important than any vested interest,” he said.
“To save our democracy and our country, the present election
results must not be accepted by Nigerians and by all friends of Nigeria.
“We are, therefore,
calling for the immediate suspension of the announcement of results and the
cancellation of the 2023 presidential election across the country. A new election
should be conducted as soon as possible.”
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