Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has faulted the outcome of the February 25, 2023 presidential elections, saying it totally rejects the results as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had in the early hours of Wednesday, declared Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the keenly contested election which held last Saturday.
Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party’s Peter Obi who had 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.
In a statement by Ohanaeze’s National Vice-president, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, on Wednesday, in Awka, the organisation said the process was marred with “monumental irregularities”, accusing INEC of failing to follow its own laid down guidelines in conducting the election.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, however, appealed to Nigerians to remain calm, noting that the process of election involves many processes, and that the last may not have been heard of the 2023 presidential election.
Okeke-Ogene said further that the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, had changed the political configuration of the country, adding that things will never be the same again.
Ohanaeze told the international community that in addition to sending observers to Nigeria during elections, they should also sanction those who undermine democracy in the West African country.
The statement reads in part: “With voting and declaration over, other processes will follow. I am sure that many Nigerians will, on their own, go to court to challenge the outcome of the exercise.
”Many people have not accepted the declaration and many do not believe that they have a president-elect yet.
“This is the worst election conducted by INEC. Imagine our president, Muhammadu Buhari, saying during one of the campaigns that Tinubu is the next president at a time the election had not been conducted, which was an indication that the election was even rigged before it was conducted.
“The INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was busy promising Nigerians that their votes would count and that the votes would be transmitted from the polling units to INEC server, only for the commission to do everything manually with the attendant corrupt practices.
”As it turned out, many Nigerians voted, but their votes did not count, which was frustrating.
“If the LP goes to court, all the ugly things done during the February, 2023 presidential election will be exposed for the world to see.
“Nigerians are now more determined to take back their country and Ohaneze believes that they will succeed.
“With what happened in states like Lagos, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and other places, it is obvious that Nigerians are no longer talking along tribal inclinations.”
