Resist pressure to collate election results manually, group tells INEC chair

From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

A pro-democracy group, The Atiku Alliance for Good Governance (TAAG), has urged the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , Mamood Yakubu, against bowing to pressure from a prominent politician to use manual collation of results in the ongoing collation of Saturday’s presidential election . 

It warned that taking such step which, it said, contravenes the Electoral Act will not be condoned. 

According to the group, in a statement, by its Coordinator, Obiora Okonkwo, INEC must operate within the confine of the law in the collation of election results. 

It said: “We are aware that there is pressure at the moment on Yakubu to use manual collation of results. The person mounting the pressure is from the ruling party. That should not be tolerated, it is against the Electoral Act. The law allows for only electronic transmission, we must stick to what is in the Electoral Act.” 

Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it is confident that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was already coasting to victory.

It said Atiku would secure the highest number of valid votes cast as well as the statutory 25 per cent in, at least, two third of the states of the federation to ultimately breast the tape on the first ballot.

In a statement, the party said: “Our party appreciates Nigerians from across the country for putting their avowed solidarity and support for Atiku into action by coming out en masse to give their votes to the PDP, irrespective of ethnicity, creed, age and even political affiliations.

“From preliminary results, it is clear that Atiku’s message of hope, unity, security and rebuilding of our nation has been positively received by Nigerians who are eager to embrace a new era under a purposeful leadership.

“The PDP assures Nigerians that the hope which Atiku symbolises as well as the very onerous task of unifying and returning our country to the path of stability, national cohesion and economic prosperity will soon begin.

“Our party, therefore, calls on INEC to ensure very transparent and credible collation process in such a manner that guarantees that all votes count and that the will of the people is respected.”

It advised that “INEC should not only ensure prompt uploading of results but also continue to make the result viewing portal available to the public in the interest of transparency.”