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As Nigerians and the international community await the outcome of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are locked in a battle of claims and counter-claims over alleged plots to falsify results of the polls.

Unofficial results from across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja showed that President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP were in a tight race.

Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not formally declared any results, the PDP has accused the Presidency and the ruling party of planning to doctor the results.

In a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Sunday, the PDP accused some APC governors of attempting to alter the election results in their respective states.

“Intelligence available to us is that INEC is delaying the announcement of results following directives by the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC), which are bent on altering the figures from the polling centers and allocate fictitious figures for President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly in northern states.

 

“Curiously, INEC server is now shut down, results are no more being transmitted and the reason is to enable the APC to inflate figures from six designated states.

 

“We call on International observers and election monitors to insist on a transparent process of transmission of results and the monitoring thereof.

“We already have reports of how APC governors in the northern states have been making desperate effort to tamper with the results of the elections in their respective states with the view to award conjured votes to President Buhari.

 

“The PDP calls on INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to note that in this age of information communication technology, Nigerians already have the results as delivered at the polling centers and any attempt to alter any figure will be faced with vehement resistance.

 

“In delaying the announcement of the results, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is allowing the APC to turn him into a villain and directly pitching him against the people.

 

“He should, therefore, extricate himself from the rejected APC and be on the side of the people, by immediately announcing the results as already delivered at the polling units and declare, the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner,” the statement read.

 

However, the APC swiftly reacted to the allegation, describing the statement as an unwarranted utterance against the country’s democracy and the people of Nigeria.

 

According to a statement issued through its spokesman, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC frowned at the calls by PDP for INEC to arbitrarily declare as the winner of the presidential election.

 

“Unwilling to wait for INEC, the constituted legal authority to complete its task, the PDP seeks a short cut by false and premature claims of victory. This cannot stand. Our nation is trying to perfect its democracy, not turn it into a mockery.

 

“Sadly, this objective is lost to the PDP. The PDP’s guiding principle is distilled to the following; because they want something, then they should get it. What they use to guide themselves actually blinds them instead.    

 

“Because they want the presidency so badly that they have engaged in all manner of misconduct and spared little cost to achieve their aim, they now believe that they are entitled to claim victory notwithstanding the vote and will of the people.

 

“But this is not the way of democracy. Democracy means the people choose for themselves not that the PDP chooses for them. 

“That may have been the way in the past when they engineered and kidnapped elections to achieve their desired end notwithstanding the true will of the people. Thankfully, those days are gone and gone forever.   

 

“These elections are supposed to be democratic exercises not a platform for the PDP to impose their selfish designs on a hopeful nation.  The PDP should honour and follow the sovereign will and sober dignity of the Nigerian people.

 

“The people patiently waited the additional week for Election Day to come. The vast majority of people again exercised patience as they peacefully voted on Election Day. Unfortunately, isolated incidents of violence took place.

 

“We are deeply saddened by the violence and disruption that did occur. Nigerians died yesterday and that should never have happened and should never happen again during an election of any kind in our land. Their deaths are needless tragedies that mar what was otherwise a celebration of our maturing democracy.

 

“Instead of the discordant and provocative statement it released, the PDP should be appealing for peace and for INEC to diligently and thoroughly perform the vital task assigned to it.

 

“Curiously, the majority of violent incidents and reports of electoral malpractice emanate from states which the PDP controls. It appears the PDP just cannot break from their old ways.

 

“The PDP press statement is but a continuation of the sordid games that party has mastered. While all evidence points to the misconduct of their people, they make outlandish and false claims against the APC.

 

“This is but the typical modus operandi of a master swindler. They seek to distract the public eye from their own wrongs, by falsely accusing the APC of the very things they had conspired to set in motion months before this election even took place.

“From trying to falsify results on the ground to attempts at hacking the INEC software, they are willing to say and do anything to obtain victory, no matter how tainted by the wrongs they commit.

 

“For our part, the APC has governed and campaigned as we believed was right. Because of this, we are content to await the verdict of the people. We also believe that only INEC has the authority to announce election results.

 

“What the PDP is trying to do, by claiming without any factual basis that Atiku has won, is usurp INEC’s constitutional authority. Moreover, PDP’s words are rash eruptions that may incite needless violence and unrest,” the APC said.