By Anne Azuka
Spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Charles Aniagwu has said that the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections in the country did not comply substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended.
Aniagwu who disclosed this while addressing a news conference on Thursday in Asaba said the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC failed to conduct the elections in compliance with the provisions of relevant laws guiding the conduct of elections in the country.
He said International observers failed to give a passmark in the conduct of the election because it was in breach of the constitution and the Electoral Act.
According to him, the electoral law we are operating today is very clear on the processes leading to the announcement of results.
“The constitution says for you to be declared a President, the political party should be able to meet the threshold of 25 percent votes cast in 2/3 of the states and the FCT which means you must have 25 percent in 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“We will need the court to tell us whether the use of the word and means any other state to come and replace FCT.
“Secondly, the electronic transmission of results is a matter of law and not just a guideline of INEC as it is enshrined in the Electoral Act 2022.
“It states that once voting has been completed results must be transmitted electronically from the polling unit before moving to the collation Centre, its a matter of law and you don’t change the goal post in the middle of the game.
“Any right thinking Nigeria knows that this election did not comply substantially with the law. We all know that results were supposed to be transmitted electronically but was that done? Is that not an offence against the law?
Aniagwu who is Commissioner for Information in Delta State slammed the ruling party All Progressives Congress for celebrating a controversial victory.
He said the processes will be tested in court adding, “it is important that when you win the battle you should also win the war, they may have won the battle but the question is have they won the war?
“You all know that there is a silence of the grave across the length and breath of this country and that is not what we want for this country.
“We want our country to make progress irrespective of who wins election but the outcome seems not to have reflected the yearnings and aspirations of most Nigerians,” he stated.
On the March 11, Governorship election in the state, Aniagwu urged the people to put aside their experience of last Saturday’s Presidential election and elect the PDP candidates of Sheriff Oborevwori and Monday Onyeme as well as candidates of the State House of Assembly.
“On the 11th March there is another election, the governorship election that has to do with the soul of Delta particularly with the amount of development we have brought to bear on the landscape of our state.
“We must first appreciate Deltans who came out in large numbers to cast their ballot but while it is said that democracy allows the majority to have their way while the minority have their say, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that majority becomes the right majority.
“As Deltans file out on Saturday March 11 to vote for the next Governor of the state, they should think of the developmental strides in the state and to expect more of building of more roads, further revamping of our schools, ensuring that the technical colleges gets to the 25 local government areas, ensuring that more Deltans become entrepreneurs through our job creation schemes.
“The only option on the table to make all of these happen today without sentiment is the Oborevwori/Onyeme ticket. The Oborevwori/Onyeme ticket would help Delta to consolidate on the development strides in our state in the last seven and half years.
“We plead with our brothers who in the course of this election have expressed preference outside the PDP to know that this is the time to come together for the purpose of sustaining the Oborevwori/Onyeme ticket and not to be swayed by other individuals who may not have been pleased by the general outlook of happenings across the country.
“For us as a government we will continue to deliver on the promises we made to our people up to the 28th May, 2023.
We appreciate our brothers and sisters for shunning violence and for realising that as one we can get a whole lot of things done.
He said the Governor had ordered probe over violence witnessed in some communities and urged security agencies to investigate the allegations and bring the culprits to book.
“In those other communities where there were skirmishes in this election, the governor has directed that security agencies must get to the root of the matter with a view to addressing such issues and bringing the culprits to book.
“The life of every Nigerian and indeed every Deltan is quite precious that we will not support any attempt by anybody to want to sacrifice the lives of Nigerians or Deltans as the case may be on account of their own ambition.
“Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Deltan so we urge our people not to be mobilised to cause mayhem. We have it on good authority that the APC is mobilising to destabilise votes in areas they believed are proper strongholds of the PDP.” Aniagwu said.
He pleaded with Deltans to continue to keep faith with the development trajectory of the PDP led government in the state to sustain that development by voting the PDP ticket of Oborevwori and Onyeme as any other ticket may not be in the interest of the people.
