The Labour Party says that it will call on its members nationwide to occupy offices of the INEC. This is for allegedly frustrating its petition with the outcome of the presidential election. Further, the spokesman for the Presidential Campaign Council of the LP, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, released a statement on Saturday. He accused INEC of disobeying the order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The order was that the electoral umpire grant the LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, access to certified true copies of materials used in the conduct of the poll. Yunusa says that INEC was present when the order was made. Further, a reminder letter dated March 6, 2023, and delivered on the same date at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja was issued. Still, the electoral umpire has continued to disobey a valid order of such magnitude until now.
What’s more, recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on March 3 granted the request of the People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his LP counterpart, Obi. The request was for the inspection of the election materials used during the February 25 presidential poll.
The LP and the PDP refused to accept the outcome of the presidential election results. They cited alleged rigging and voter intimidation, among other reasons, for their refusal.
Tanko said that this action by INEC is an act of insubordination and a refusal to comply with court orders. INEC chose to obey the court order given to it to reconfigure the BVAS machine. They also ignored the order granted to them to inspect electoral materials. Tanko says, “We, therefore, want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest, which is allowed by law.”