The National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has expressed concerns that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had colluded with the Presidency to rig the 2015 elections.
Tinubu described the decision of the commission to deregister 1.447 million voters from the voter’s register in Lagos State as fraudulent and illegal, demanding that the names of those deregistered should be published.
He made the demand at a news conference he addressed at the state party secretariat, Ogba alongside the state’s APC Chairman, Oladele Ajomale, and Women Leader, Kemi Nelson, among others.
Tinubu said the field reports, personal experiences and observations from different parts of the state showed that the exercise “has failed and is unacceptable.”
In some instances, according to him, “INEC officials are not on ground. In some of the accredited booths in the state, INEC did not start the exercise on time. In other cases, the cards are not sorted or inadequate. Where are they?
At these instances, Tinubu said: “If INEC has failed in 11 local governments, it is only reasonable to conclude that this exercise has failed and it is a deliberate failure. For me, this exercise has failed. It is not acceptable. We will consider as wrong by all standards and as a rigging exercise practised.
“INEC has colluded with Presidency to rig these elections from the beginning to the end. If for four years, INEC is unable to prepare the permanent voter’s cards and capture those who are 18 and above, how it possible that INEC will be able to satisfy the Electoral Act 30 days to 2015 elections.
“As far as I am concerned, this is a deliberate collusion. If you call it neglect, for me, it gives INEC an excuse to what is inexcusable. We will report what has happened in Lagos to the national secretariat of our party. As we have merged with other political parties, INEC has merged with President Jonathan to form a formidable body to rig the 2015 elections,” the national leader said.
He, therefore, lamented what he described the arbitrary reduction of the state’s registered voters from 6.27 million in 2011 to 4.8 million as unconstitutional and unlawful, noting that the commission lacked the power to play the role of court by taking decision to remove some voters from the register.
He said: “The commission brought the number of registered voters from 6.27 million to 4.8 million. INEC should publish the names of those delisted from the voter’s register. These people are not ghosts.”
“Even if they are involved in double or multiple registration”, the national leader observed that “INEC should have a record of the registered voters that were involved in the act of multiple registration”
He added that the people of Nigeria, especially Lagos residents “should they be delisted from the register, INEC must publish those excluded from the voter’s register. We have the right to know what actually happened. INEC is not the court of law and it cannot exclude Nigerians from exercising their franchise.
“INEC cannot take the right to exercise their franchise away for any reason. If INEC wants to prosecute them, it must obtain order from the court of law to do so. If INEC wants to void their cards, it must go through the court of law before it can do so. INEC cannot arbitrarily deregister them from the register.
“INEC cannot automatically disqualify them without the court of law. INEC can either suspend or give them opportunity to register again. INEC should publish the names of the 1.447 million voters that were deregistered. If INEC refuses to publish their names and give reasons, it has violated their constitutional rights.”
A lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa, has expressed disappointment on the failure of the INEC in fulfilling their promise on the ongoing collection of PVCs.
The lawmaker, who was not satisfied with the absence of INEC officials at certain polling units in Ikorodu, Ketu, Ojota, Magodo and Maryland among others, called on INEC to react swiftly to all the complaints from the citizens as this might jeopardise their chances of participating in the forthcoming election come 2015.
According to him, I want to use this medium to appeal to INEC to wake up to their constitutional responsibilities for the betterment of all citizens by making sure that nobody is disenfranchised for lack of PVCs in 2015 elections.
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