The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now replacing all the servers in its headquarters and offices in all states of the federation in a desperate bid to obliterate the actual presidential election results transmitted from the polling centres across the nation, which show its candidate, Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the election. But INEC in a swift reaction dismissed the allegation as baseless, saying it would not engage the PDP in a shouting match in the media over an issue that is in court.
“This is completely reprehensible and further exposes the culpability of INEC in the manipulation and rigging of the 2019 Presidential election. Our party also has details of how the INEC leadership and the Presidency agents procured and detailed computer experts to the commission’s offices to switch the servers, mutilate vital information in the system and attempt to erase all trails of transmitted results to the main server,” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement Monday.
The PDP claimed to have been briefed on a sinister conspiracy by INEC leadership and the Buhari administration to destroy evidence of fraud and rigging, after realizing that the servers had information of Atiku’s victory at the polls. To this end, the PDP is insisting on a forensic examination of all relevant materials, documents and equipment used for the Feb 23, 2019 presidential election.
“What INEC and the Buhari Presidency do not understand is that computer software and applications leave traces, signatures as well as footmarks. Forensic investigation of the system will reveal the real votes transmitted from the polling centers, which show Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the election.”
The party noted that it had also been informed about how the INEC leadership, several weeks after the election, used some compromised officials of the commission to manipulate voter registers in some states by ticking names of individuals who did not participate in the Presidential election, as having voted. It noted that this was with the view to using such to cover the fictitious results it wrote for the APC, stressing that the party would continue to be at alert as it stands with Nigerians to reclaim its stolen mandate at the tribunal.
In reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the commission would not engage the PDP in a media frenzy and would rather allow the legal process to run its full course. He stated: “The allegation is baseless and uncalled for. The Commission has maintained that it will not join issues with the PDP in the media on a petition that the party had already filed in court, in respect of the 2019 presidential election. Rather than issuing press statements and addressing press conferences on the same petition on a daily basis, the PDP should allow the legal process to run its full course.”
In a related development, the PDP also alleged that President Buhari and the APC “are desperate to remain in power at all cost so as to continue to exploit Nigerians, protect their corrupt leaders, cover their incompetence and conceal the humongous sleaze in their administration.”
A statement by Ologbondiyan, further claimed: “The President Buhari-led APC administration wants to remain in power to prevent investigation into the N14 trillion allegedly stolen under its watch, including the N9 trillion stolen from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo; the over N1.4 trillion alleged oil subsidy sleaze and the N1.1 trillion worth of crude diverted using 18 unregistered companies linked to APC interests.
“This is in addition to the N33 billion National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) fund and the over N18 billion stolen out of the N48 billion approved by the National Assembly in the 2017 budget for the rehabilitation of IDPs in the North East, among others.
“Furthermore, the Buhari-led APC administration is desperate to avoid an investigation into its unwholesome borrowings that led to the escalation of our nation’s debt stock from N12.12 trillion in 2015 to an overburdening N24.39 trillion in 2018.”
The PDP also claimed: “Within a space of three years, this administration has borrowed a total of N12.27 trillion, yet it cannot point to any significant development project into which the money was invested. This includes the N2.66 trillion borrowed in 2018 ahead of the 2019 general elections.”
It further alleged: “The fact that the Buhari presidency lacks the competence and integrity to run a creative, transparent and credible administration that can guarantee economic growth, wealth creation and a dependable system has become a globally accepted one.”
The party lamented that “the negative effect is the further dipping of our economy, as investor’s confidence, which shored up at the expressed resolve by Nigerians to elect Atiku Abubakar as their next president, slumped with the rigging of the presidential election.”
