…Security beefed up ahead of final declaration

By Omeiza Ajayi

Nigeria’s main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP has queried the Presidential election results returned from States in the Boko Haram ravaged Northeast, wondering how it was possible to make such returns while the same could not be said of a “peaceful” Southeastern Nigeria.

Lai Mohammad and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus

One of the Presidential Collation Agents of the PDP, Chief Osita Chidoka made the observation Tuesday in Abuja shortly after the result of the election in Bauchi state was announced. In Bauchi, while the ruling APC polled 798,428, the PDP garnered 209,313.

Coming under a point of observation, Chidoka said; “The issue before us, Mr Chairman, is what we feel strongly about, and the Chairman of the PDP has written you a petition. We are worried that the promise you made, the commitment you made and INEC made that as we are doing this collation of results, you will give us the details of accreditation captured by the card reader in the country has not been fulfilled.

“Yesterday, my colleague raised the issue and we thought that when we come back this morning as we are listening to the states, we will be seeing the accreditation in the states by the card reader. This Mr Chairman, I will like it to be on record that we want to see the accreditation for Bauchi state, for Borno state and Yobe in particular and of course, for the rest of the country because the numbers as we are seeing, it seems to me that we live in two countries. While people in the south have issues with the Smart Card Readers SCR, while complaints were all over the place, we seem to have quiet and peaceful elections in places where the people have complained of severe cases of insecurity and harassment by the military and bandits.

“So, we would like you Mr Chairman and I forward this letter to you to say that we will appeal that if it is possible Mr Chairman, that before we proceed to the next state you should please, project to us what the card reader has captured as the accreditation in these states.

“We are supposed to read from the card reader, the electronic collation as against the manual information that we are getting to process information here. While it is not yet signed into law, in your guidelines it was made clear that no voting should take place where there are no card readers. So, Mr Chairman, we must appeal to you that we would like you to project these accreditation as done by the card reader.

“Please, if any of your staff is available he can please, take a copy of this letter from the chairman of the PDP saying that what we are doing here will require us to have the accreditation as done by the electronic card reader”, he requested.

Responding, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu declined to receive the letter, saying the PDP should follow the formal channel of making such correspondences with the commission.

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“Thank you Mr. Chidoka, but there is a procedure for submitting a correspondence to the Commission. We haven’t shut down our office. This is the International Conference Centre where we are using as collation centre. Kindly submit your letter to the office, it will be acknowledged. Your letter will now be studied and we will respond, accordingly. I believe that there are more details in the letter than what you have stated and we will need to study that”, Yakubu submitted.

Earlier before the intervention of the INEC boss, an agent of the APC, Festus Keyamo SAN had faulted the position of the PDP, citing Clauses 32 and 35 of the commission’s guidelines which define the powers of the INEC Chairman during the collation process, arguing that receiving correspondences from parties was certainly not one of them.

“I just want to react to what the PDP said. What we are doing here is guided by the rules and regulations of INEC. If you looked at Clauses 32 and 35, it clearly states the powers of the INEC Chairman seated at this Collation Centre and it does not involve an inquisition like the PDP demanded. The question he (Chidoka) asked is an inquisition. This is not the right procedure. So, we are opposed to it. We have a lot of complaints against rigging in Cross River North, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and many others. At the right time, we will also submit our petitions”, he stated.

Security beefed

Meanwhile, security has been beefed in and around the International Conference Centre which is currently serving as the National Collation Centre.

Vanguard gathered that the measure was in preparation for the final declaration of results of last Saturday’s Presidential election.

Security sources told Vanguard that as the collation draws to an end, politicians could engage in last minute efforts to scuttle the process.

Men of the Brigade of Guards as well as an addition to the number of operatives of the Department of State Services DSS and the Nigerian Police have taken strategic positions along all roads leading to the centre, forcing motorists to use alternative routes to get to their destinations.