Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council has raised an alarm over alleged attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to induce officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to alter the results of the presidential elections that held on Saturday. Chief Dele Momodu, the Director, Strategic Communications for the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, made this claim at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday.
According to the campaign, they have reliable information that the APC was prepared to deploy intimidation and blackmail should financial inducements fail. The campaign said that the APC is currently mounting pressure to bribe their way to secure 25% performance in Imo and Ebonyi states. They are calling on the INEC to apply necessary precautions before announcing procured results in the presidential election from these two states.
The presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had earlier urged the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to instruct Collation Officers to upload results from the Polling Units to the INEC server to avert those results from being compromised by Governors of the ruling party who were shopping for numbers to make up for their shortfalls.
Momodu further alleged that the APC is currently making attempts to shore up votes from Lagos State to their advantage. From already collated results, the APC is not leading in Lagos, and there is credible information that they are currently shopping for means of manufacturing humongous figures to their advantage in the state. The campaign urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to resist the pressure being mounted on it by the APC to compromise the Lagos Central Senatorial District election where the Peoples Democratic Party is in a clear lead.
Momodu expressed gratitude to Nigerians for their resilience and commitment to ensuring that their votes count by coming out in their numbers to vote for candidates of their choice. He urged PDP members to be vigilant, remain steadfast and peaceful, stating that from their standpoint, the APC has no justifiable path to winning this election.
The campaign said that they have been following the trend of post-election activities and it is their desire to reset certain wrong impressions being created to confuse the public. From already collated results data, they are proud to inform Nigerians that the Peoples Democratic Party remains in the lead in the election of last weekend. They remain the only political party which has secured the necessary 25% spread across 24 states in the country.
The demand for INEC’s precaution is not limited to Lagos. It extends to other states in the Southwest and selected states in the North, including Katsina, Yobe, and Borno, among others. The campaign urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to put substantial surveillance on Lagos State as the APC is doing everything within their means to cheat in Lagos.
