The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Atiku Abubaka

  • INEC: Atiku spreading fake election results

    Claims by Alhaji Atiku  Abubakar that he won the February 23 presidential election with 18,356,732 votes are nothing short of an invention, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared.

    The Commission also says it never transmitted results of the presidential election through any server and any figures purportedly obtained thereof are fake.

    It disowns the website, factsdontlie.com, which Atiku alleged before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal as the source of the election results he claimed to have won.

    Responding to Atiku’s petition point by point, the commission said that contrary to the claim by the PDP and Abubakar, it owns no server and never transmitted any results through electronic server.

    In the counterclaims seen yesterday by The Nation, INEC said “With particular response to the issue of server and electronic transmission and collation repeatedly referred to by the petitioners, as at date, there is no legal framework in place for electronic voting, transmission and collation of scores or results of the electioneering process.

    “The Smart Card Reader till date was used for authenticating registered voters not for sorting, counting, transmission or collation as these processes are still manually done, given the state of the law.

    “The 1st respondent (INEC) has no server that contains the purported results the petitioners are claiming they got from a purported server.

    “In spite of the scheme at the time, counting, sorting, transmission and collation of votes during the 2019 general elections and the presidential election in particular were all done manually and not electronically.

    “The purported figure of 37,668,305 being bandied  by the petitioners as  the actual number of accredited voters is unknown to the 1st respondent and never existed in its record.”

    It specifically denied the existence of electronic transmission of results as it is unknown to the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of the elections 2019.

    INEC faulted the petitioners’ claim that the results of the election were transmitted electronically.

    Read also: APC’s claim on my birth is ridiculous, pedestrian, says Atiku

    In a witness statement attached to the INEC claims, the commission’s Director,  Information and Communications Technology, Chidi Nwafor denied all the petitioners’  claim about a server and branded it as false  “as I know as a fact that the 2nd respondent (President Muhammadu Buhari) was duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the presidential election and scored at least one-quarter of the lawful votes cast at the election in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, more than two-third of all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.”

    Witness added:”The petitioners did not win the majority of the lawful votes cast and did not satisfy the mandatory constitutional requirement to be declared winner having polled 11,262,978 and one quarter of all lawful votes cast in 29 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as against the 2nd respondent who scored 15,191,847 votes cast and one quarter of the lawful votes cast in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    “The lawful and recognised computation of results is manually done using Electoral Form EC8 series and not the table pleaded by the petitioners given that the said table is not the result collated and declared by the 1st respondent.

    “I know as a fact that the details contained in the table in the paragraph 22 of the petition are inaccurate.

    “I know that mode of transmitting/collating election results is manual, using Forms EC8As, EC8Bs, EC8Cs and EC8Ds and not electronically done.

    “I know that the Manual Technologies 2019 and demonstration videos referred to in paragraph 27 are internal training materials.”

    The commission also said: “Further to the foregoing, the website described as www.factsdontlieng.com was neither created nor owned by the 1st Respondent (INEC). It is a site not known to the 1st Respondent.

    “The 1st Respondent does not share information with such an unclassified entity and any information purportedly derived there from which does not accord with the result as declared by the 1st Respondent is not authentic but rather was invented for the purpose of this case.”

    INEC ‘satisfied’ by Buhari’s academic qualification

    The Commission also said it is satisfied with the academic documents submitted by Buhari for the purpose of the election

    Atiku is claiming in his petition that one of the schools Buhari claimed to have attended could not be traced and that  Buhari claimed to hold a certificate that was not in existence at the time he claimed to have obtained it.

    But INEC said it had no query over  Buhari’s academic documents.

    The Commission said it was “satisfied with the educational qualification presented” by the president to run for the election.

    INEC’s   lawyer, Yunus Ustaz (SAN) brands Atiku’s petition as frivolous, incompetent and/or lacking in merit.

    He prays the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

    It plans to call 83 witnesses in its defence.

     

  • Atiku unveils legal team, vows not to mortgage people’s mandate

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has vowed not to mortgage the people’s mandate as he unveiled his legal team on Saturday.

    Atiku is challenging the victory of incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari who was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    In a statement yesterday by Atiku’s media adviser, Mr. Paul Ibe, the PDP candidate named Dr. Livy Uzoukwu SAN as head of his legal team.

    Atiku has alleged malpractices and manipulation of the ballot in many states across the federation to the undue advantage of President Buhari who contested the poll on the platform of the All progressives Congress (APC).

    He also alleged interference by the military and other security agencies in the election in ways and manners that compromised the credibility of the election, including voter repression, falsification of results and intimidation of voters.

    The statement quoted Atiku as saying, “I have just inaugurated my legal team and charged them with the responsibility of ensuring that our stolen mandate is retrieved.

    “I am encouraged by the presence of fearless men and women of the Bench. The judiciary which had in the past discharged itself ably, is once again being called upon to deliver judgement on this matter that will be untainted by lucre and uncowed by the threat of immoral power”.

    Atiku assured that sooner than later, the noble dispensers of justice will give a judgment that will represent a historic denunciation of electoral fraud and mandate bandits.

    He maintained that in no circumstances will he mortgage the mandate he said was freely given him by Nigerians in the February 23 election.

  • Protest rocks Lagos over Obasanjo’s alleged plan to install interim govt

    A pro-democracy group on Thursday staged a massive rally in Lagos State against the alleged plot by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to install an interim government.
    The protest was led by the Coalition for Defence of Democracy in Nigeria (CDDN).
    According to the group there is a credible intelligence that Obasanjo political allies where hell bent on making the country ungovernable.
    CDDN, therefore, called on the Federal Government drop its tolerant attitude and put the pressure on Obasanjo to immediately call off all the attacks that are planned against the interests of Nigeria
    Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Rachel Okpara, Executive Director of CDDN, appealed to the international community to call Obasanjo, Atiku and other incendiary members of the opposition to order before they sink the nation.
    Her words, “We are telling the world that there is a credible intelligence that a former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is the one that hatched the plan to destroy the country in conjunction with his political allies. It was for this reason that Obasanjo released his so called “POINTS FOR CONCERN AND ACTION,” a document that has now been confirmed as intended to incite Nigerians as a precursor to the orgy of violence that his co-planners will unleash on the country.

    Read Also:Tinubu: Obasanjo seeks return to power

    “We are also asserting that more than the emergence of an interim government that the federal government refers to, Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar who is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and other opposition elements have their sight on an outright coup to overthrow Nigeria’s democracy. It is for this reason that Obasanjo returned to his vomit after vowing that God will never forgive him if he ever supported Atiku.
    “CDDN is not going to adopt the tolerant indifference that the Federal Government is showing to a threat of this magnitude, which with all certainty will throw the nation into chaos. The Federal Government might be worried about being described as clamping down on dissent and the opposition but we have no such political tightrope balancing to do. We see things from the perspective of the immediate and long term impact on citizens. The safety of Nigerians is superior to whatever offices could be won or lost by officials of the federal government.
    “He has the links to Boko Haram, Terwase Akwaza (Gana), the miscreants in Kano and the Nigerien mercenaries; he should be persuaded to reel them in so that Nigeria is not plunged into crisis. The federal government omitted to mention them but we are aware that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), a designated terror organization and militants in the Niger-Delta have been contacted by a particular running mate to a presidential candidate to carry out the destabilization in the south-east and south-south.
    “CNND hereby puts the groups that have been contracted to carry out these attacks on notice. The will of Nigerians towers above their capacity for evil and the supremacy of the Nigerian state and its capacity to respond to the threat they pose is not in doubt. They have the obvious option of backing down and calling their assigned mission off now before it is too late because Nigerians will support the government to unleash the full strength of the state against these threats even if it means embarking on emergency conscription to defeat evil.
    “We appeal to the international community to call Obasanjo, Atiku and other incendiary members of the opposition to order. They should be held responsible since they are the ones that have propping up the groups and individuals named in the planned attacks. The international must make it clear to these elements that any contraption that emerges from truncation of Nigeria’s democracy will not be accepted. They should prevail on Obasanjo and his ilk to desist from the plot to throw Nigeria into chaos.”

  • Banditry/Kidnappings: Group backs Buratai for exposing those behind killings in Nigeria

    The Coalition of Human Rights Groups has backed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai for exposing those behind the unrest in the country.
    Lt. Gen. Buratai had on Wednesday said embittered politicians, who were bent on destabilising the country were responsible for the rising activities of bandits.
    He gave this assertion while hosting members of the 10-man Committee on Army of the House of Representatives, who were in Maiduguri on a two-day oversight function.
    He said, “There are myriads of security challenges we are facing right now in the North-West, North-Central and other parts of the country. I want to believe, and rightly so, that with the fallout of the just-concluded general elections, there are politicians who saw their defeat as a means of revenge, sponsoring these criminal activities and even banditry and clashes between the farmers and herders.”
    Speaking on the revelation, the human rights group warned those behind the serial acts of banditry, kidnapping and killings must desist from these evil acts and change their ways.
    Maxwel Gowon (Esq), Executive Director of the group in a statement obtained by our reporter on Thursday, appealed to defeated political players in the last election to use proceedings in expressing dissatisfaction with election outcomes without resorting to bloodletting.
    The statement reads below.
    Permit us to say that we are not in any way surprised by the revelations made by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai while speaking before a committee of the House of Representatives this week. In summary, General Buratai asserted that politicians are behind the new wave of attacks against Nigerians by Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other killer groups.
     He also said some politicians who were defeated during the General Elections sponsor criminal as their own way of revenge for their rejection by Nigerians.
    The Coalition of Human Rights Groups in Nigeria want to categorically state that what General Buratai have disclosed is not really new. Political support for Boko Haram is something that our coalition expressed concerns about shortly before the elections.
     Our concerns at that time were validated when the Federal Government raised the alarm about how the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar were procuring the services of these terrorists and foreign mercenaries to make the country unsafe. We had also, after the elections, revealed that the opposition, following their election losses, had given a fresh mandate to the terrorists to make the country ungovernable.
    The favor General Buratai has done for Nigerians is to confirm that the threat from politicians that lost election is real. The Chief of Army Staff, by virtue of his position has access to the best intelligence about the dynamics of the politically motivated acts of terror being committed against Nigerians by those that want to take over the government at all cost. The affirmation by General Buratai that the Boko Haram threat is real is therefore a well-founded fear and informed position as he neither known for being flippant nor alarmist but has always been sounded patriotic in his intervention.
    On the heels of what the Chief of Army Staff has said, we are drawing the attention of Nigerians to five critical points:
    The opposition backed terrorist groups and foreign mercenaries to cause insecurity in several parts of the country prior to the elections in the hope that the resulting chaos will either allow them rig the polls or deplete potential votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in his strongholds.
    The attacks by Boko Haram, bandits and other criminal elements are centered on areas where the opposition had predicted they would win but were roundly defeated, which could mean that Nigerians in these affected places are being punished by the opposition for voting their choice.
    The opposition, especially Atiku Abubakar, categorically told the world that they will ensure that killings continue across the country because President Buhari was re-elected. The killings are fitting this predicted pattern.
    Captured terrorists, victims and security agencies have repeatedly identified political players as drivers of the acts of terrorism that have been recorded.
    The opposition had never hidden their glee each time there was an attack anywhere. They are quick to exploit the attacks for launching verbal and media attack on the government. This insecurity is what they are now leveraging on to plot a coup against the government as have been exposed by the Nigerian Army.
    We are calling on the politicians that lost elections to have a rethink and immediately desist from sponsoring killings and supporting Boko Haram or any terror group to unleash deaths on Nigerians. There are legal proceedings to expressing dissatisfaction with election outcomes without resorting to bloodletting.
    Not only is the Coalition of Human Rights Groups in Nigeria asking these politicians to withdraw support for the killers they have commissioned, they must also, because they engaged these terrorists to carry out the killings, come up with modalities for decommissioning and demobilizing the killer gangs while handing over inventories of weapons they issued to these killers so that law enforcement agencies can properly mop up the illegal firearms that are being used to carry out the killings.
    Those that have been contracted to take the life of others must know that they face reckoning. Time has practically run out for them to repudiate the bloody contracts assigned to them by disgruntled politicians. They should immediately turn themselves in and name the politicians that gave them dirty jobs to do while also surrendering weapons in their possession. They must know that the military in Nigeria is capable of dealing them mortal blows once the era of persuasion is over. This will lead to certain death for the killers while their political masters are able to slink into the shadows to enjoy the proceeds of their corrupt past.
    In conclusion, we are calling on the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, notably the Nigerian Army, to consider that the period of grace is over for those that have decided that Nigerians cannot or will not know peace. The battle should be taken beyond the theatre of operation; the identities of Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and killer mercenaries gunned down in battles should henceforth be investigated and confirmed so that those they are linked to can be tracked down. The military should co-operate with the Nigerian Police Force and Department of State Services (DSS) in this regard so that politicians or anyone found to be connected with these killers.
    We want to urge the Nigerian Army and other branches of the Armed Forces not to relent in the commendable efforts they have made in saving the country from the killers unleashed on the rest of us by the failed politicians. It is apparent that the situation would have been far worse if Nigeria does not have committed leaders in the military.
    Our appeal to the Federal Government is to repeat an earlier stated position that the situation at hand has gone past the one for political consideration. People that are devious enough to send killers after the electorate as punishment for not being voted do not require pampering; what they need is the activation of the full powers of the Nigerian state against them and the military and security agencies should be allowed to deploy this. They should get the backing to go after anyone found to be sponsoring these killers irrespective of whether there will be cries of clamp down on the opposition or not.
    Thank you for listening.

     

  • Atiku’s aide advises APC on credible primaries

    Thead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries, a representative of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the Convention Committee, Mr. Greg Egu, has urged the committee headed by former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, to ensure a level- playing field for aspirants.
    He said if internal democracy prevailed, his principal would clinch the ticket.
    Egu, a senatorial aspirant from Imo East on APC’s platform, spoke in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State while briefing reporters ahead of Atiku’s visit.
    He enjoined delegates from the Southeast to vote for the ex-vice president, “who always includes Ndigbo’s interest in his plans.”
    Egu, however, described Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha’s presidential ambition as a good development for the Igbo, stressing: “If he is in the race to negotiate positions for Ndigbo, he has my support because the Igbo are neglected in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government.”