Ruling All Progressives Congress, on Tuesday, kicked against the demand by the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and the African Democratic Congress for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu.
APC Presidential Campaign Council in a counter press conference on Tuesday, shortly after the opposition parties’ news briefing, insisted that the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday were credible enough.
Spokesman for the APC PCC, Festus Keyamo, said it was “legally wrong” to call for the altering of the electoral process when the results had not even been declared.
“They actually called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene; to interfere with the process. First of all, those demands are not possible under the law,” Keyamo said.
The opposition parties had at a joint press conference on Tuesday, in Abuja, alleged that the February 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections were marred with violence, rigging and intimidation of voters.
They therefore demanded the conduct of fresh elections, asking the INEC boss, Yakubu, to step aside.
Keyamo, who doubles as Minister of State for Labour and Employment, added that the request by the opposition parties were against the provision of the Electoral Act, arguing that the results collated by the state returning officers could not be tampered with by the INEC chairman.
“When they (the results) come to the national collation centre, the national chairman has no power under the law to review what all those returning officers have done,” he said, adding that all complains should have been resolved at the ward, local government area and state levels.
Keyamo said only the election tribunal could interfere with the process.
The APC PCC thereby asked the aggrieved parties to approach the court to address their grievances.