By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
As more results of the last presidential and National Assembly elections are being released, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to resist the pressure being mounted on it from some quarters to compromise the results.
The PDP made the call at a press conference yesterday in Abuja.
The party, which spoke thought the Director, Strategic Communication of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organization Otunba Dele Momodu said that intelligence report available to the party has shown that INEC was undergoing serious pressure from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The PDP further called on INEC to apply necessary precaution before announcing procured results in the presidential election from some states in the country.
According to Momodu, “On behalf of our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, we wish to thank all Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliations for turning up to vote for the candidates of their choice.
“We also want to commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the security agencies and all other paramilitary forces for ensuring that the atmosphere of the election was peaceful.
“Having cast their votes, Nigerians are earnestly expecting the results to be announced. It is also their expectations that the announced results will be in alignment with the ballots they had cast. As a campaign we expect nothing less.
“We have been following the trend of post election activities and it is our desire to reset certain wrong impressions being created to confuse the public.
“From already collated results data we are proud to inform Nigerians that the Peoples Democratic Party remains in the lead in the election of last weekend.
“We remain the only political party which has secured the necessary 25 per cent spread across 24 states in the country. No other political party has been able to cross this essential constitutional requirement.
“As a matter of fact, we have it on credible grounds that our main opponent in this election, the All Progressives Congress party, is currently mounting pressure in attempts to bribe their way to securing 25 per cent performance in both Imo and Ebonyi states.
“It is on the merits of this intelligence that we are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to apply necessary precaution before announcing procured results in the presidential election from these two states.
“Our presidential candidate had yesterday urged the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu to instruct Collation Officers to upload results from the Polling Units to the INEC server to avert those results from being compromised by Governors of the ruling party who were shopping for numbers to make up for their shortfalls.
“As we speak, the APC has not been able to meet the 25 per cent threshold and demand that INEC should not cave in to the pressures and desperation of the APC to buy advantages for itself in this regard.
“Similarly, we have it on good grounds that the APC are currently making attempts to shore up votes from Lagos State to their advantage.
“From already collated results, the APC is not leading in Lagos and we have credible information that they are currently shopping for means of manufacturing humongous figures to their advantage in the state.
“Similarly, we urge the Independent National Electoral Commission to resist the pressure being mounted on it by the APC to compromise the Lagos Central Senatorial District election where the Peoples Democratic Party is in clear lead.
“We further urge the electoral commission to put substantial surveillance on Lagos State. The APC are doing all within their means to cheat in Lagos.
“Our demand for INEC’s precaution is not limited to Lagos. It extends to other states in the Southwest and selected states in the North including Katsina, Yobe, and Borno among others”, he said.
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