NADECO wants Nigeria’s presidential elections cancelled

The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), United States Chapter, has called for a total cancellation of Nigeria’s Presidential election held recently across the 176,600 Polling Units in 774 local government areas of the Country, saying the election was largely fraught with cases of fraud, intimidation, insecurity and vote rigging.

The Presidential election, which produced one of its founding members, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-Elect and Kashim Shettima as Vice President-elect on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were seen as being against the democratic values, fairness and justice that NADECO stands and known for as the Coalition announced severance of ties with Tinubu.

Speaking at an International Press Conference held recently at the US National Press Club in Washington DC, W. Bruce Delvalle, the general counsel, NADECO, United States Chapter, said that the Nigeria’s Presidential poll was full of electoral malpractices and intimidation of the electorate across the Country.

While explaining that the election which was meant to be transmitted live for all to see how votes were cast and counted across 176,600 Polling units in the Country, which he said, was against the 2022 Electoral Act, the NADECO asked the United States of America to place Visa ban on the perceived perpetrators of the electoral fraud, including Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

W.Bruce Delvalle, who asked Nigerians and the international communities to demand proofs of credible, free and fair election that necessitated the INEC to declare and return Bola Tinubu as winner, requested the Nigeria Judiciary to set aside and cancel the fraudulent Presidential elections unless cogent and verifiable proofs were produced by INEC and the Nigeria Government.

Read also: INEC declares Tinubu winner of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election

“We believe INEC to prove itself, it has to prove the results that were announced were true and real. There are 176,600 Polling stations, that is a lot of Polling stations. INEC’s role requires each Polling station to close the votes, count the votes and do with the old fashion way.

“They were to gather the results, publish the local results, transmit the results and ultimately they will go to Abuja. But what happened was that INEC had published the results earlier on and they took them down.

“So, what we have is vote rigging, vote buying and bribery. Despite INEC’s efforts, nothing good happened. So, we have back to the same old thing, the same old efforts. So, what do we do? What do we do as international law firm? What do we do as international Attorneys. What do we do to ensure democracy can thrive, that the promise of 1960 can come true again, hopefully?

Well, we are asking that INEC throw open the can and let the full light of truth come in to prove the transparency and veracity of the results they have announced. If the results are true, they should be able to prove it.

“It’s absolutely not extraordinary to ask them to prove it. Show me your maths, we have all gone to School, show me your maths. You have got a number, show me how you got the number, prove what you did. There can’t be no debate that initial investigation indicates that they (election processes) were salvaged; the rules were salvaged, the rights of the electorate were salvaged.

“It (the presidential election) was riddled with blatant widespread corruption and democracy is doomed – bribery, intimidation, insecurity and vote rigging appeared to thrive all over the nation. They (INEC and other forces) were honest to skew the results.

“We call upon the people of Nigeria to act peacefully, but to demand that proofs be provided to them, that INEC prove the results they have announced.

“We also call on international communities to join together with Nigeria Judiciary in a concerted effort to condemn and set aside the hastily announced results and the INEC, itself proceed on solemn seriousness they deserve”, he said.