By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that Nigeria is heading for a national crisis should the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) continue with the collation and announcements of the presidential elections results which it strongly claims is fraught with serious irregularities.
In a statement signed by the president of NLC, Joe Ajaero , yesterday, the congress vehemently opposed the ongoing collation process as it insisted that the election results do not reflect the will and fundamental rights of the people as it completely goes against the tenets of democracy upon which the foundation of the country is structured noting that such action is a recipe for uproar among the people.
Ajaero noted that INEC’s actions have sabotaged the integrity of the elections and undermined the credibility of its outcome and that its hesitation at addressing concerns raised by stakeholders could further degenerate the situation of things. “We do not understand why INEC has suddenly become deaf to sound reason but continues to pursue a path that may put the nation in crisis. It would be the height of irresponsibility to rush our country into a cul-de-sac.”
He queried the commission’s inability to give satisfactory explanations to critical concerns raised and accused it of being complicit by action of compromising on the electioneering process including sabotaging the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine and altering of results at polling units and collation centers nationwide.
He further emphasized that an election process filled with irregularities would only render the benefiting government illegitimate and would not earn the support and trust of the people. According to him, “If INEC announces a result that is dogged by confusion and questions, how can a government built on that survive? How can such government mobilize the people, build trust and confidence for whatever policies or programmes they intend to deliver.”
While expressing disappointment that the electoral umpire could not keep up with its mandate of conducting a credible presidential election despite several assurances, Ajearo pointed that it was neither the lack of capacity nor the paucity of resources but the greed factor which has led to the intentional scuttling of the process to benefit a few individuals to the detriment of the nation. “A product is always subject to the processes that gives birth to it and if that process becomes contaminated, the product becomes defiled,” he explained.
He reiterated the NLC stance that INEC must immediately stop the collation and announcements of results and allow the will of the people to prevail as he advised that quick intervention measures had to be taken and that the unity and progress must be considered above selfish designs.