The Action Alliance (AA) and the Action Peoples Party (APP) have rejected the call by the Labour Party (LP) for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the LP had called for Yakubu’s resignation on Thursday through its Director-General of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, who accused the INEC boss of manipulating the 2023 presidential election.
However, the AA and the APP said that the LP’s call was baseless and unfortunate.
The two parties urged the LP to accept the outcome of the election and to focus on rebuilding the party for future elections.
In a statement, the National Chairman of the AA, Barrister Kenneth Udeze, said that the LP was only trying to distract the public from the fact that its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, did not win the election.
He said that the reforms introduced by INEC had made it possible for litigants to present their cases at various election petition tribunals across the nation.
“Assuming without conceding, the elections were manipulated, the Labour Party can only prove its case using the instrumentality of the innovations promoted and defended by the INEC chairman,” Udeze said.
He said that it was without doubt that INEC, under the leadership of Yakubu, had introduced the most far-reaching innovations to improve the electoral process in Nigeria.
The APP, in a separate statement, said that it was unfortunate that INEC had become an easily available punching bag at whom the political class targeted to manipulate the system or at whom the political class targeted its angst.
The statement signed by the party’s acting National Chairman, Barrister Uche Nnadi, asked the LP to await the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and refrain from needlessly stirring up the Nigerian public against an outstanding public servant because of their easily predicted loss at the election.
Nnadi said it was on record that the political class stood by while INEC facilities were targeted and attacked in the build-up to the elections.
“For instance, INEC facilities in the South East were constantly attacked & equipment destroyed with little or no comments from people such as Mr. Osuntokun,” he said.
He said that the APP would be the first to admit that there were a few cases where politicians induced INEC staff to manipulate the process. However, he said that it was on record that where these cases had been established, the Commission had demonstrated a commitment to prosecuting the perpetrators of these acts.
