The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disappointed Nigerians with the way it conducted last Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections in the country.
National Vice President of the organization, Damian Okeke-Ogene, in a statement in Awka, urged the commission to respect the will of the people by protecting the integrity of the election results.
Okeke-Ogene, who rejected the ongoing presentation of the election results, said the Commission must ensure that the mandate of the people was not subverted in any way.
He urged INEC to justify the confidence reposed in it by the citizens of the country, as well as protect the nation’s democracy and political institutions.
He observed that INEC had raised the hope of Nigerians during preparations ahead of the elections, regretting that the INEC is not meeting the expectations of the people.
According to him, the late arrival of electoral materials in many centres and delay in the announcement of results have created room for suspicions, lamenting that the Commission had disappointed Nigerians.
He accused the chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmud Yakubu of building the entire exercise on very faulty foundation, in spite of the huge resources expended for the conduct of the elections.
Okeke-Ogene added that INEC had increased the pains and suffering of Nigerians in an already difficult situation in the country and trying to further plunge the country into anarchy, wondering what the commission did with the N300 billion approved for the elections.
He noted that the electorate, during the elections, expressed a strong desire to take ownership of their country and change the national narrative, and cautioned that any attempt to compromise or manipulate the outcome of the elections would have far-reaching consequences.
He enjoined INEC to avoid acts that could threaten the unity of the country and commended Nigerians, especially youths, for their patience and sense of maturity, as well as some political parties, including the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party, for their courage in pulling out from what he described as illegality.
He also extolled former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders for standing firm on the part of the truth and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take decisive action to protect the unity of the country by calling INEC to order, warning of the grave danger of the increasing tension in the country.