The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has asked Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to resign from his position instead of trying to blame the commission’s staff for the lapses witnessed during the presidential election.
INEC chairperson, in a meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Saturday, admitted that a number of issues ranging from technology, delay by election officials, and attitudes of political parties’ agents jeopardised the outcome of the February 25 elections, which produced Bola Tinubu of the APC as winner.
He added that officials responsible for the infractions would not be involved in the gubernatorial poll and would face disciplinary actions.
However, in a statement on Sunday, Atiku through his special assistant on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the INEC chairman is trying to shift blame instead of accepting responsibility for the irregularities during the presidential and national assembly elections.
“The INEC chairman is nothing but a hypocrite,” Shaibu said.
“After promising to upload the results from polling units in real time, he allowed himself to be used, or he used himself in subverting the will of Nigerians.
“It will shock you to note that seven days since the election ended, the full results have still not been uploaded on INEC’s result viewing portal.
“The election was so bad that it failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians as restated by several foreign media outlets and observers as well as ambassador Mary Beth Leonard of the US. Rather than apologise, the INEC chairman is trying to shift the blame.
“After INEC’s abysmal performance at the scam election of February 25, he is now trying to save face, insisting that errant staff would be punished and would not be deployed in the March 11 governorship poll.
“This is arrant nonsense. Is INEC planning on training new staff within five days that will replace the so-called errant ones? Is he going to recruit new staff or deploy some from outer space?
“Prof. Yakubu should be man enough to own up to his failure. A fish rots from the head down, and that is what has happened at INEC.
“Rather than suspend any staff, the INEC chairman is the one that needs to step aside as his first act of contrition. Already, over 300,000 Nigerians have signed a petition on Change.Org to demand that the US, UK, and Europe place a visa ban on the INEC chairman. This shows you the general feeling of Nigerians. Prof Yakubu should hide his face in shame.”
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