by Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) Nigeria’s main opposition parties are calling for fresh elections, describing the results currently being announced by the electoral body as “heavily rigged and rigged” at a joint press conference in the capital, Abuja.
They said their parties would no longer be part of the ongoing assembly process in the capital, Abuja, adding that they had lost confidence in the electoral body’s chairman Mahmood Yakubu, a joint statement by the Peoples Democratic Party, Labor Party and African Democratic Congress said in Abuja on Tuesday.
The parties called for fresh polls to be held under a new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We call on the international community to note that the results being declared at the National Collation Center have been heavily manipulated and manipulated and do not reflect the wishes of Nigerians expressed at the polls on February 25, 2023,” they said.
“Lack of transparency”
The election process has been marred by controversy and the announcement at the national collection center in Abuja saw some tense moments, with members of the opposition party walking out of the collation center as the results were announced on Monday.
Several observers, including the EU, have said that the election did not live up to expectations and “lacked transparency”.
“The election fell well below the reasonable expectations of Nigerian citizens,” said a joint observer mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu is leading the race so far with almost half of the votes already counted on Tuesday, according to the results of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
23 out of 36 states have declared their results at the state level. The leading opposition party PDP’s Atiku Abubakar is in second place, according to INEC figures.
Despite his shock victory over Tinubu in his home turf of Lagos State, Peter Obi, the much touted ‘third force’ candidate is trailing in third place.
According to INEC’s iRev results portal, 83,798 out of 176,846 polling units have submitted their results.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was also among those who criticized the election process in a strongly worded letter late Monday where he alleged that the results had been manipulated.
But the government warned him not to short-circuit the election with “his inflammatory, self-serving and provocative letter on the election,” in a statement by Information Minister Lai Mohammed.
The APC, however, has dismissed Obasanjo’s claims as “frivolous, baseless and baseless”, stressing that the former leader did not provide any evidence to support his claims that the electoral technology was manipulated.
The APC blasted Obasanjo’s statement as tantamount to “subtle call” for “a coup against democracy and the constitution.”
The party acknowledged Tinubu’s loss in the stronghold state of Lagos and questioned Obasanjo’s question on the outcome.
INEC, meanwhile, continues to announce results as they come in, despite the criticism from the commission.
Meanwhile, Yakubu called on any candidate with complaints to seek redress in the courts during a result announcement in Abuja on Monday.
Yakubu says he plans to go ahead with announcing results despite complaints.
