Laolu Akande, a media aide to the former Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has opined that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) came out of the Nigeria’s national election as a damaged goods.
According to Akande, the electoral umpire has broken the trust of Nigerians after failing to electronically transmit the results of the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Akande, responding to questions on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Friday argued that INEC failed to fulfill its promise to upload polling unit results on their Result Viewing Portal, IREV.
“It is important to establish something we cannot basically run away from. INEC came out of this election as a damaged goods.
“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 this election.
“In fact, the Chairman of INEC went abroad and said, ‘What we are going to do is that these results, when we get it, we will put it on IReV in real-time’,” Akande said.
Recall that the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The court ruled that it was not mandatory in the Electoral Act that INEC must transmit results electronically.
The court struck out all petitions brought before it against President Bola Tinubu by both Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi who contested against the sitting president.