The ember of discord fanned by the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu in announcing the winner of the 2023 presidential election without due process has massively eroded the little credibility the electoral umpire had garnered over the years, and had created a grave yard peace in the country that hitherto been divided ethno religiously
Miracle Egbo
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC rushed to declare Bola Ahmed Tinubu the president-elect without recourse to the constitution of the country. For instance, the constitution stipulates that for a candidate to be declared the winner of presidential election in the country, the candidate must have 25 per of the votes cast in 24 states and Abuja. Empirical evidences in the public domain revealed that Tinubu did not score the 25 percent votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja. Findings revealed that it is only the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi who scored the required 25 percent votes cast in FCT. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP like Tinubu of the All progressives Congress, APC did not score the required 25 percent in the FCT.
The process that threw up Tinubu as the president-elect was at variance with the Electoral Act 2022 as amended, the guidelines of the electoral umpire which was observed in breach by the umpire itself culminated in the frenzy to deny the legitimacy the president-elect is supposed to enjoy as the custodian of the people’s mandate. The alleged swapping of the votes of the LP for the APC further eroded whatever legitimacy the declaration of Tinubu by Yakubu as the winner of the presidential race would have earned.
Investigation orchestrated by Tentacle revealed that the alleged fraud that was associated with the presidential election makes it harder for the electoral umpire to confidently say that Tinubu actually won the election. Facts oozing from the stable of the electoral umpire suggested that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election was done in error because all the necessary requirements to win presidential election in the country was not met by the declared winner. Sources said that the hurry with which the electoral umpire announced the winner smacks suspicion of cover up on the part of the electoral umpire not to scrutinize how the winner was arrived at some of the figures donated to him because regulations of the umpire in this regard was jettisoned with impunity.
Afenifere, the socio-cultural organization of the Yoruba, led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo in a press statement stated that the presidential candidate of LP is the actual owner of the mandate as given by Nigerians on February 25, 2023. Afenifere insisted that failure to announce the true owner of the mandate is a recipe for anarchy in the society if the decision of INEC is upheld by swearing Tinubu in as the president of the country. Adebanjo said that such move would amount to subverting the will of the people as expressed on February 25, 2023.
Professor Chidi Odinkalu, a professor of law in a chat with Sahara Reporters, an online publication said that it was the first time that former leaders of other countries who congratulated a president-elect had started withdrawing their congratulatory messages due to the blur cast on Tinubu’s victory by the alleged fraud of the presidential election. Odinkalu said that the withdrawal of the congratulatory messages speaks volume of the illegitimacy of the process that threw up the president-elect.
From the foreign observers to the local observers, the presidential election has been alleged to be shambolic and as such any politicians who benefited from such shenanigan lacked legitimacy. Therefore, according to these observers, the massive legitimacy deficit that is conferred on the president-elect makes it difficult for anybody to swear-in one that does not enjoy the support of the majority of the electorate at the presidential poll conducted in February 25, 2023.
Information has it that if the shenanigan that took place in the presidential election is anything to go by, the person who enjoys the right to be called president-elect legitimately is the presidential candidate of LP who have satisfied all the requirements according to the constitution and electoral umpire guidelines in the conduct of the election.
