The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned in strong terms the call by former president Olusegun Obasanjo on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the collation of election results and the cancellation of already computed results, an action it sees as “truncation of the ongoing electoral process.”
In a press statement released on Monday, Dele Alake, the Special Adviser for Media, Communications, and Public Affairs at the APC Presidential Campaign Council, titled, “OBASANJO’s MISCHIEF AND HYPOCRISY ON DISPLAY AGAIN” the party asked Nigerians to ignore the mischief of the former president.
According to APC, “Obasanjo repeated without the slightest iota of evidence the rumours he had picked up that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System had been compromised and that the results of elections being announced are fraudulent. It is tragic that a former President who ought to be a statesman in comportment and speech will recklessly seek to endanger and derail our democratic process for utterly selfish, egoistic, and malicious reasons. He offers not a single credible piece of evidence to prove his laughable and ridiculous allegations against INEC and the credibility of the ongoing process.”
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The party criticized Obasanjo for being partisan instead of displaying the highest level of nonpartisanship and elder statesmanship like his colleagues. It condemned the former leader for endorsing the candidacy of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, a choice that crossed the partisan line.
A decision the APC felt has not only clouded his judgement but has drawn a conclusion about the entire electoral process if it doesn’t favour him. “Of course, we are all aware that Obasanjo is not an impartial and disinterested party as far as this election is concerned,” the party said.
“On January 1, 2023, he had issued a characteristically lengthy epistle to Nigerians endorsing the candidacy of Mr. Peter Obi and asking Nigerian youths to vote en masse for him. Of course, our reaction was that the former President was entitled to his view and that the outcome of the elections would demonstrate if he had any electoral value. As fate would have it, Peter Obi was defeated even in Obasanjo’s own polling unit in Abeokuta in Ogun State. But it is now obvious that the only election Obasanjo will agree to being free, fair and credible is one that produces Obi as winner which is ridiculous.”
Alake argued that the party has been transparent and religiously committed to the growth of democratic values, a trait that saw their presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, lose his stronghold in Lagos State to Obi of the Labour Party.
“If the outcome in Lagos won by Obi is free and credible, on what basis is he querying the outcome of the elections in other places?” He asked.
He reminded all that not only has President Joe Biden of the U.S. supported President Muhammadu Buhari in ensuring a peaceful and democratic transfer of power, but that Nigerians shouldn’t in a hurry forget about the aborted third-term agenda of Obasanjo.
“No true democrat must seek an abortion of the process just because he believes the elections are not going his way,” it said.
It alleges that the former president is calling for a coup against democracy and the constitution and should be totally condemned.
“What Obasanjo is subtly calling for in his nefarious statement is a coup against democracy and the constitution. He should be roundly condemned and severely ignored,” it added.
