PDP counters Yakubu’s claim, says INEC rigged election for APC

The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has countered claims by chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu that it is the most improved Nigerian government-owned institution.

PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement alleged that INEC rigged the elections to favour the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ologbondiyan asked the INEC chairman to “save the nation unnecessary stress by admitting the obvious irregularities in the 2019 general elections”. The PDP spokesman also told Prof Yakubu to admit that INEC “rigged the Presidential poll for the All Progressives Congress (APC)”.

He questioned how INEC will be rated as the most improved institution when the 2019 elections were “marred by compromised voters register, missing ballot papers, alteration of results and inconclusive elections.”

Yakubu on Wednesday, June 26, said, “Given the size of the voter population, the size of the country, one can very conveniently say, if you look at what happened in our elections from 1999 to date, I have no doubt in my mind that INEC is the most improved public service institution in Nigeria today.”

Yakubu argued that INEC should be rated high when compared with its counterparts in other West Africa countries.

But the PDP said Yakubu’s claims were outrageous because Nigerians were still hurting over the credibility of the 2019 elections.

The opposition party opined that the INEC chairman ought to be apologizing to Nigerians instead of “insulting their sensibilities with his provocative claims.”

“How can anyone in good conscience make such spurious claims when the massive irregularities that defaced the 2019 elections is responsible for the unprecedented 766 election petitions across the country as against 297 petitions filed in the 2015 elections?” Ologbondiyan asked.

Ologbondiyan, whose party and presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is challenging the result that declared President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the election, urged INEC chairman to permit inspection of sensitive election materials to validate its claims.

“If INEC is the most improved institution and has nothing to hide as Prof. Yakubu claims, why is it afraid to allow an inspection or judicial audit of the sensitive materials and devices it used in the 2019 general elections, including its server?,” Ologbondiyan said.