- Says move undemocratic, recipe for anarchy
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
The Peoples Democratic Party’s protest march over the outcome of the 2023 Presidential Election has been declared as an undemocratic move that is a recipe for anarchy and unrest. A move at intimidating the Independent National Electoral Commission from conducting Saturday’s gubernatorial and state assemblies elections.
The National Coordinator of the Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo Dynamic Support Group, Usman Ibrahim, made the assertion during a press conference organised by the MBO Support Group at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
The Support Group said while there were isolated hitches in the conduct of the election, INEC delivered on its promise of a free and fair election which produced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner and now President-elect.
He said, “MBO Dynamic Support Group is a Grade A affiliated support Group of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We are here today for this briefing with a view to addressing some issues of concern as Nigeria prepares for transition to another civilian administration on May 29 this year.
“First and foremost, I will like to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for fulfilling his promise to deliver free, fair and credible election to Nigerians and to congratulate the President elect as well as Senators and House of Representatives members elect. It was a well-deserved victory.”
Ibrahim insisted that the INEC under the watch of Mahmood Yakubu lived up to his promise to conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections. “We are all witnesses to events before and after the February 25 polls which was conducted in a free and fair atmosphere as attested by both local and international observers.
“It is also pertinent to note that President Buhari’s commitment towards institutionalizing a level playing field for electoral contest yielded the desired results, one of which is the emergence of four front runners in the recently conducted presidential election.
“Judging from the aforementioned, we make bold to say that a President that recorded such feat cannot in any way allow a flawed election as being bandied by the opposition parties who lost on account of inability to secure highest votes to win the presidential election.”
The MBO support group’s leader noted, “This is not to say that there were no hitches in the conduct of the election. In our estimation, the Independent National Electoral Commission, in the face of numerous challenges, delivered on its promise of a free and fair election.
“However, the declaration of the APC Presidential Candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 election by INEC on March 1, has sparked an array of unsubstantiated reasons by the opposition and their supporters to discredit the election and by extension the electoral umpire.”
He added that in as much as “we appreciate the freedom of all and sundry to express their feelings we are most worried by blatant lies couched in the desperation to truncate the electoral victory of H.E Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We are also at loss as to why men of high standing in the country will resort to using irrational approaches to pursue their political ambitions.
“Yes, the right to protest is constitutional in Nigeria and globally recognized but this lawful freedom must be exercised in tandem with every sense of decency.”
The group urged the Peoples Democratic Party to exercise restraint in its desperation to gag INEC with the sole intent of intimidating the commission from conducting the upcoming gubernatorial and state assemblies elections scheduled for March 11, saying it should engage itself with gathering evidence to substantiate its case at the tribunal.
