- Peter Obi criticizes INEC for deceptive conduct regarding recent polls, dismissing the report as reactionary and insincere
- Obi challenges INEC’s claim of technical glitches in the IREV system during the presidential election, questioning the credibility of the report
Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for what he perceives as deceptive conduct regarding the report of the recent polls released on Friday.
In the 526-page report, INEC addressed the failure of the Integrated Results Electronic Viewing (IREV) system to upload presidential results despite the smooth operation of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS). The commission attributed this issue to technical glitches, which were purportedly resolved without affecting the credibility of the elections.
Obi, speaking through Dr. Yunusa Tanko, the Chief Spokesperson of the Obi-Datti Campaign Committee, dismissed the report as reactionary and insincere.
He asserted, “The INEC report is medicine after death. Nigerians might have trusted this report if INEC had addressed this issue promptly during the election. However, the claim that the IREV failed to function or upload during the presidential election is false.”
“It is documented, and everybody saw it. But then this is the same INEC who went again to the Supreme Court, citing that they had the authority to collate the result manually, and it was stamped on authority on illegality by our judiciary.
“And you want to convince me that that glitch issue was not done deliberately? The truth is that nobody was arrested. Somebody ought to have been arrested who has been saddled with that responsibility.
“And if he is saddled with the responsibility, he must be held responsible and account for why the glitches occur.
“And even if there was a glitch, it’s like your network taking off. It shouldn’t take up to a whole day. A few seconds it is off, three seconds it is back. Why was the server not back, or was the glitch not resolved?
“So, for me and many of us, this is unacceptable. The report is deceitful to the Nigerian people. Our electoral Act and electoral law must be revisited to clarify our election process.
“We don’t want to give any lacuna to our election process and allow the judiciary to decide who wins the election. Election should be done and dusted at the polling units,” he said.