*Photo: Yakubu*
The Nigerian Youth Network for Good Governance and Sustainable Democracy has condemned unceasing attacks on the Independent National Electoral Commission and its Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu by some supporters of the PDP and the Labour.
The group, in a statement issued on Friday by the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Constantine Ikechukwu noted that the attacks on the INEC leadership is more about plunging Nigeria into chaos than seeking alleged electoral justice.
“One would have expected that as law abiding citizens seeking to truly serve the country, the Presidential candidates of the LP, PDP and their supporters would refrain from canvassing the issues raised in their petitions outside the Tribunal,” the group said. “Unfortunately, both the petitioners, their lawyers and supporters have continued to make disparaging remarks about the outcome of election in public. In fact, their lawyers, who are Learned Silks, have continued to make unsavory comments to the media about the outcome of the election which they are challenging.”
The statement reads in full:
We have watched, with great concern, the unfolding events, and an apparent desire of some enemies of progress to plunge Nigeria into chaos since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the results of the 2023 General Election. While the elections produced a President, Vice President, 28 State Governors (minus the six states where elections are off-season), 109 Senators and 360 Members of the House of Representatives, supporters of the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been inconsolable, employing both conventional and unorthodox means to prove that the 2023 Presidential Election was rigged.
At the same, both parties have filed their respective petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) which is currently sitting. One would have expected that as law abiding citizens seeking to truly serve the country, the Presidential candidates of the LP, PDP and their supporters would refrain from canvassing the issues raised in their petitions outside the Tribunal. Unfortunately, both the petitioners, their lawyers and supporters have continued to make disparaging remarks about the outcome of election in public. In fact, their lawyers, who are Learned Silks, have continued to make unsavory comments to the media about the outcome of the election which they are challenging. Besides, LP supporters, referred to as “Obidients” have turned the social media, especially Twitter, to a battleground where they abuse, curse, and denigrate anybody no matter how highly placed, that disagrees with their position. Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have sadly joined them in this spectacle of shame.
Some foreign observers and local civil society organisations have also been making subjective and unsubstantiated comments about the election, even when none of them observed up to half of the 176,606 Polling Units where the election took place. Everything is beginning to look like a playbook. The other day, the disunited Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room released a politically motivated Report on the election, with the Convener, Ene Obi, asking the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to apologise to the nation, only for three members of the same body to openly disagree with her comments, which they insisted are not contained in the Report. Interestingly, while the self-contradictory Report applauded INEC’s preparations for the polls and acknowledged the immense security and extraneous challenges it faced, the group wrongly blamed the Commission for political violence, acrimonious, monetised party primaries and bitter political party campaigns which are outside the Commission’s control. Also recently, Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in a tweet, congratulated President Bola Tinubu on winning the election, but asked the President to sack the INEC Chairman that conducted the election. We consider his position as self-contradictory, dishonest, and patronizing. You cannot congratulate a man for winning an election and then ask him to sack the person that conducted the same election.
OUR POSITION
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is greater than any individual or his ambition. In furtherance of our strong belief in one indivisible and prosperous Nigeria, we strongly condemn the continued disregard for the rule of law by the LP, PDP, and their supporters with their unmitigated and disparaging comments on the outcome of the 2023 Presidential Election even when the PEPT is busy hearing their petitions. You cannot seek redress in court and at the same time continue to resort to self-help. We regard the blitzkrieg method employed by the LP and PDP lawyers to use the media to convict INEC in the arena of public opinion as a disservice to the rule of law and the legal profession. We also strongly condemn the blatant threats being made by LP, PDP, their lawyers, and supporters against the Justices of the PEPT hearing the petition, to either give a judgement favourable to them or be damned.
We also view the incessant virulent attacks on INEC and its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as condescending, emotive, subjective, and irrational. While we agree that the 2023 Presidential Election was not perfect, there is no concrete evidence to show that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu rigged the election in favour of the APC as alleged or broke any electoral law. After a careful study of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022, we are convinced that in declaring Ahmed Bola Tinubu as President-Elect at the National Collation Centre, Prof. Yakubu only performed his statutory role and did not break any known law. On the contrary, he would have broken the law with serious consequences if he had failed make that declaration. Thankfully, the law also gives aggrieved parties the opportunity to challenge the outcome of the election in court, which they have rightly done.
Finally, all aggrieved parties must now sheath their swords, stop the ongoing verbal war on the social media, and allow the Tribunal to conclude its assignment in peace. More importantly, Nigerian politicians should learn to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in politics instead of crying foul each time an election result did not favour them. There is no gain in do-or-die politics.
