LAGOS, NIGERIA(VOICE OF NAIJA) – Laolu Akande, media aide to former Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has voiced his concerns over the failure of INEC to electronically transmit the results of the last presidential and National Assembly elections has broken the trust of Nigerians in the electoral body.
His reaction came after the tribunal judgement had on Wednesday, September 6, dismissed Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s allegations against sitting president Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
Akande expressed his view on Friday while appearing on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.
Recall that his principal (Yemi Osinbajo) also contested in the APC presidential primary in order to be the flag bearer for the party but lost to Tinubu.
READ ALSO: Obi Was On A Wild Goose Chase – LP Faction Says, Accepts Tribunal Judgement
Akande said, “It is important to establish something we cannot basically run away from. INEC came out of this election as a damaged good. There is no doubt about that. INEC itself set up a standard. INEC determined the guidelines. INEC committed to the people of Nigeria that this is how we are going to declare the result of the election.
“In fact, the Chairman of INEC went abroad and said, ‘What we are going to do is that this results, when we get it, we would put it on our IReV in real-time.
“Now, guess what? When it was time for INEC to fulfil its own guidelines – for certain reasons, we could talk about that- INEC failed to do what it said it would do. Now, it is right if you look at the law, and I think the judges also have affirmed that INEC has not really broken the law. But INEC has broken the trust of the Nigerian people.”
“it is a problem for political legitimacy for people that came out of that system,” adding that INEC set itself up but couldn’t deliver its promise.
” There is a lot of distrust. INEC is responsible for that.”