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2023 general election

Why I will challenge the outcome of the presidential election in Court, by Obi

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***says he will not runaway but be with them through the darkness to the daybreak

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Gregory Obi has indicated that the records presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for Saturday, February 25, 2023 presidential election were outcomes of discreet manipulations.

He alleged that people saddled with the responsibility to provide a free and fair election tampered with the results.
He spoke on Thursday while fielding questions from Newsmen during a world Press Conference in Abuja
According to him,
“The figure presented for participation of voters did not reflect progression given the history of the electoral register and voters pattern since 2015.

His words: “In 2015, the number of registered voters is about 67 million and 29.4 voted. In 2019, the registered voters rose to about 84 million and about 28. 4 million voted. We were told that about 11m registered in 2022, if am correct, it brings the registration to about 95m registered voters but 87 million voters collected the PVC because of the issue of not being able to collect their PVC, only 23 million voted.

“You can now see how Nigeria works. We have an increase of 11 million and the voters drop sharply by over 20 % instead of increasing. The reason was due to manipulation and reduction, removal and inputs of votes here and there of votes otherwise the numbers were supposed to have increase because people were busy doing what is wrong,

“I have chosen to challenge this rascality for the future of the country” Obi argued.

He regretted that Nigeria cannot conduct an election after 63 years and noted that such development, called for a reflection, stressing that an unexamined life was not worth leaving, maintaining that Nigeria cannot go on like this.

Obi said the party is not in any alliance with any party, instead, it is in, he said the Labour party is in discussion and partnership with all Nigerians who feel hurt by the process.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party emphasized that he would be challenging the process that culminated into the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC), and stated that the process through which a person comes to any place was far more fundamental thereafter.
Obi said a clean faultless process gives the leader moral authority over all things under his supervision, he asked “if we use the process we used today, tell me how we can tell the kidnapper he is doing the wrong thing.”

“I have not made call to anybody, I am not against making call, everybody that has been involved in this, even the two main contenders, I have always said, they are far my seniors, they should actually be my father, so I respect them and if they call me and want me to see them, I will see them.

“But on this issue, I am challenging the process,” the LP presidential candidate stated.

Obi said as a beneficiary of justice in the past, he has huge respect and confidence for the Court, to be able to get justice as he approached them for justice on the Saturday, February 25, 2023 presidential election.

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party said he would provide the evidence of irregularities in the election at the court. And stated that he will allow himself to be under any kind of pressure for challenging the misconduct and rascality.

“Nobody will ever put me under pressure when I challenge misconduct, rascality or illegal process. How do you put the kidnappers under pressure but by eschewing what is wrong.
“I am challenging a process that is faulty, a process that is wrong, it could be anybody, it is not about anybody, its about the future, so there is no pressure,” Obi stated

He said he would not engage the international community on a purely Nigerian issue, however, he said he will not decline responding to any invitation for any kind of legitimate engagement, and maintained that it is a Nigerian problem that should be solved by the Nigerian people
Obi appealed to the youths to come out enmasse and vote the Labour party in the March gubernatorial and state assemblies elections

“It is a long Journey, I am committed to going through this journey with them, is not going to be a one day journey, no matter how long the night is, there will be day.
“I want to assure you that there will be day, I want to go through this darkness with them because I know, we are not going to ask these people to leave there easily, they have structure.

“They have structure of criminality, that structure cannot go overnight; that structure of destruction cannot go overnight; structure that has created 133 million people living in multidimensional poverty, cannot go overnight; structure that has created 95 million people living under absolute poverty, cannot go overnight; structure that has created 20 million out of school children cannot go overnight.

“All we need to show is commitment, resilience, use all the resources that we can, all our energy to do this. I want to assure them that I am not going away, I will be at the forefront, we will walk through this darkness, until the day break.
“I know the Court will do the right thing because their children are involved. I am challenging the process which is faulty, in fact, you cannot build peace on a faulty foundation. The foundation has to be right for peace to prevail. That is the foundation, I am challenging”

“It has to be on the foundation of honesty, transparency, justice and fairness. We went into election where somebody promised we are going on a route to go there and we follow the track. Suddenly in that long distant journey, as we get to the end of it, somebody jump from somewhere else and claim the price, what doo you do? He asked

The LP candidate said the process is important and on the journey to fix Nigeria and Africa, the process must be corrected through e promotion of orderliness, that builds a society.

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2023 general election

2023 polls: Abdulsalami Peace Committee opens up on pressure to ask for cancellation

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Abdulsalami Abubakar

The National Peace Committee (NPC) has opened up on pressure it faced to intervene in the 2023 Presidential Election results. During a report presentation in Abuja, led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the committee disclosed that it received numerous requests to push the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to halt results collation or cancel the election due to alleged violations of the electoral act.

Key issues included concerns about the 25% vote threshold requirement for the Federal Capital Territory, with some advocates calling for a runoff.

The NPC emphasized its role as a moral authority rather than a regulatory body, highlighting its mandate to promote peace and compliance with the law, without the power to arrest or punish violators.
The committee acknowledged a gap in public understanding of its functions and the importance of moral persuasion in fostering electoral integrity and peace.

Before presenting the report to the public, the committee had earlier met with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other management staff of the commission where it was briefed on the electoral umpire’s preparation for the forthcoming Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Other members of the committee are Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe (Vice Chairman); Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Convener); Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; business icons, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola; Vanguard Newspapers Publisher, Sam Amuka Pemu; Ameze Guobadia; Idayat Hassan; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Gen. Martin Luther Agwai; Mahmud Yayale Ahmed; Channels TV owner, John Momoh; Roseline Ukeje; and, Fr. Atta Barkindo, its Head of Secretariat.

Part of the report reads; “As the election day progressed, criticisms and counter criticisms became abundant. The NPC was already being faced with a flurry of phone calls and the need to call INEC to order.

“The Peace Committee was flooded with requests for intervention. Both the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar, the Convener, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and the Head of NPC Secretariat, Fr. Atta Barkindo, were inundated with calls, requests, and petitions demanding the intervention of the NPC.

“Some of the requests wanted the NPC to prevail on INEC to stop collating election results because there were gross violations and lack of compliance with the electoral act. Others demanded that the tenets of the Peace Accord signed were not adhered to and therefore the Committee should call for cancellation of the election entirely.

“The most significant call was related to the 25% threshold for Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the analysts who reached out to the committee asked that the final election result should not be announced because the resumptive president-elect did not score the required 25% as stated in the electoral act. If anything, there should be a runoff.

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2023 general election

EU reports: LP says FG is feebly adopting face saving measures

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***EU only hit the nail on the head

The leadership of the Labour Party has countered the Federal Government of Nigeria for discrediting the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 General Election wherein it faulted the modalities by which the conclusion was reached.
It reiterated what it believed as the accurate testament of the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 general elections which merely hit the nail on the head.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh said,
“Eropean Union’s Conclusion on the 2023 general elections are nit Jaundiced but accurate Testament of the outcome of the FG and INEC alliance to change the will of the electorate.”
“We see this face-saving measure by the Federal Government which is coming days after the submission of the report as feeble and medicine after death.

“It will interest the government to note that the European Union’s report is only one out of numerous submissions by other international Observers who have described the outcome of the election as a sham and an exercise that did not reflect the will of the majority of Nigerians.

“Labour Party stands by the position of the EU observation mission. We have always said that this election was massively rigged in favour of the APC and their candidate.
“What the FG is saying is just an afterthought and a shameless effort to mask the obvious. Even the blind can see, the deaf can hear and they know this election was manipulated.
“Huge pieces of evidence abound for even the deaf and the blind to hear and feel. We are only hoping that the judiciary will dispense justice without fear or favour in the interest of the nation and posterity.
“Nigerians already know the true winner of the 2023 presidential election and no amount of slandering, denial, or rebuttal can change the fact that the party in power has no mandate of the electorate.

“We must also note that whatever position the INEC has taken is with active connivance with the Federal Government to deny the electorate and it clearly shows that INEC is not in any way independent.
“The Commission’s action is at the whims and caprices of the government and we know it. But Nigerians looking to the Judiciary for justice. That’s where we stand.”

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2023 general election

FG tackles EU over report on 2023 general elections

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The Federal Government has countered the European Union’s report on the 2023 general elections, describing the conclusions therein as “jaundiced”.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy gave the indication in a statement on Sunday.

“We urge the EU and other foreign interests to be objective in all their assessments of the internal affairs of our country and allow Nigeria to breathe,”
According to him, the February 25, 2023 presidential election was “clearly and fairly” won by Tinubu, the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC).

He also advised that the EU allow Nigeria to breathe and not meddle in the affairs of the country.

“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections,” he said.

He said the presidency was not unaware of the “machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes”.

Alake further stated that there is no substantial evidence provided by the EU or any foreign and local organisation that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.

“We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads,” he stated.

“We have many reasons to believe the jaundiced report, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.

“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”

The media aide said Nigeria has put the elections behind, and Tinubu is facing the task of nation-building.

“As a country, we have put the elections behind us. President Tinubu is facing the arduous task of nation-building, while those who have reasons to challenge the process continue to do so through the courts.”

On June 27, 2023, the EU presented its report on the 2023 elections in Nigeria to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The EU said the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signaled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.

The EU also identified six areas for improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process moving forward.

Some of the key areas listed by the Mission are ambiguities in the law, the establishment of a publicly accountable process for the selection of the INEC members, ensuring real-time publication of results as well as access to election results.

It also highlighted the need for protection for media practitioners while decrying the discrimination against women in elective and appointed positions as well as impunity regarding electoral offences.

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