Voters Demand Recount of February 25 Presidential Election Within 14 Days

VRAN Issues Ultimatum to INEC

The Voters Rights Association of Nigeria (VRAN) has given the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) 14-day ultimatum to recount the ballots cast in the February 25, 2023 presidential election. The group has threatened to drag the commission to court if it fails to recount the votes.

INEC Chairman Warned to Avoid Legal Battles

Human rights lawyer and president of the group, Dr Jezie Ekejiuba, signed the warning letter, which he made available to LEADERSHIP in Owerri, yesterday. The statement read in part: “Mr. INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. please do not put the electoral agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in which you are privileged to head, in the legal harm’s way by avoiding unnecessary litigations and legal expenses of taxpayers in defending suits filed by aggrieved Nigerians whose votes did not count during the last Presidential election on Saturday, February 25, 2023, under your watch.”

INEC Criticized For Collation and Declaration of Results

Ekejiuba said that the warning letter is necessary because of the suspicious manner and method that INEC chairman, Yakubu, adopted for the collation and declaration of the presidential election result. He added that Yakubu had turned all the prescribed laws guiding the collation and declaration of results under the Nigerian Electoral Act and Constitution upside down. The group criticized Yakubu for disenfranchising millions of registered voters and violating all known electoral laws, guidelines and constitutional provisions on how to collate and declare results, especially the Presidential result.

Accusations of Rigging

Ekejiuba also claimed that based on the polling units’ results nationwide, Peter Obi of Labour Party won the presidential election with a landslide victory but that INEC rigged the election in favour of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, who was illegally declared President-elect. He said that every accusation of rigging the said Presidential election result deserves to be heaped at the doorstep of INEC, and not Tinubu or his party, APC.

Call for Recount

Ekejiuba stressed that the conduct of the commission had resulted in his vote on February 25 presidential election for Peter Obi of Labour Party not being counted. He added that the only way his anger can be assuaged is to embark on the total recount of votes cast in the presidential ballot of February 25.

Threat of Legal Action

Ekejiuba demanded that the commission carries out the total recount within 14 days of becoming aware of the warning letter. He further stated that he shall have no other alternative than to sue the commission in the Federal High Court of Justice for exemplary and general damages should the commission fail or neglect to heed the demand of the letter.

The Alleged Violation of Nigerian Electoral Laws

By the alleged illegal action committed by the commission, the commission has lost sight of Ekejiuba’s Enugu Court of Appeal decision in Barr. Jezie Ekejiuba vs. INEC & Anor which struck down all the provisions of the Electoral Act under which the commission were carrying out illegalities of deregistration of political parties before it ran from the Supreme Court where it lodged frivolous appeal against Ekejiuba to the National Assembly that helped to restore the struck down provisions back into the amended 1999 Constitution.

Credit: https://leadership.ng/voters-demand-recount-of-february-25-presidential-election-within-14-days/

ENND