Hours after the incident at the collation centre, former President Olusegun Obasanjo raised the alarm that danger is lurking around the country over the alleged compromise of the electoral process.
Obasanjo, therefore, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the INEC chairman to stop the ongoing collation and announcement of results and rectify the allegations raised against the electoral process.
Obasanjo in a letter titled, ‘’Until last Saturday night, February 25, 2023, the good and noble plan and preparation for the elections seemed to be going well. For the Independent National Electoral Commission, a lot of money was spent to introduce the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the server for immediate transmission of results from polling units.
Obasanjo
‘’It is no secret that INEC officials, at the operational level, have been; allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not work and to revert to the manual transmission of results which is; manipulated and the results doctored.
“The chairman of INEC may claim ignorance but; he cannot fold his hands and do nothing when he knows that the election process has been; corrupted and most of the results that are brought outside BVAS and server are; not a true reflection of the will of Nigerians who have made their individual choice.
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“At this stage, we do not need wittingly or unwittingly; to set this country on fire with the greed, irresponsibility, and unpatriotic act of those who allegedly; gave money to INEC officials for perversion and those who collected the blood money.’’
The elder statesman appealed to Yakubu; to ‘’if his hands are clean, save Nigeria from the looming danger and disaster which is; just waiting to happen.’’
According to him, if the chairman could postpone elections by four days to the election, he can do everything to ‘’rectify the errors of the last two days – no BVAS, no result to be acceptable; and no uploading through servers, no result to be acceptable.’’
Obasanjo also pointed out that the results should be; declared void and inadmissible where the BVAS and servers had been; manipulated or rendered inactive.
“Whereas BVAS and servers have been; manipulated or rendered inactive, such results must be; declared void and inadmissible for election declaration. Chairman INEC, I have thought that you would use this wonderful opportunity; to mend your reputation and character for posterity,’’ he noted.
Save the nation
Asking Buhari to address the situation and save the nation, the former military leader stated, “Your Excellency, President Buhari Muhammadu, tension is building up, and; please let all elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test be; canceled and be brought back with areas where elections were; disrupted for next Saturday, March 4, 2023, and BVAS and Server officials be changed.’’
Obasanjo further; advised the electoral commission to constitute a committee comprising electoral officials, political parties, and the Nigerian Bar Association to proffer solutions; to the allegations of electoral malpractice.
Manipulated
The letter read partly, ‘’To know which stations or polling units were; manipulated, let a Committee of INEC staff and representatives; of the four major political parties with the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association look into what must be; done to have hitch-free elections next Saturday.
