The vice presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta and that of Labour Party (LP), Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, have said that any presidential election result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is illegal.

The duo gave Prof. Mahmood 60 days to get new BVAS to conduct fresh election, adding that the law made provision for extension of election.

They added that those calling on the opposition parties to go to court know what they have perfected.

Calling for complete cancellation of the election, the duo said that the call by the INEC chairman that the process should be allowed to be completed before reviewing it is not acceptable.

Addressing the media in Abuja, the duo said there’s no cost to democracy and the commission should look for money anywhere to conduct fresh election.

Insisting that cancellation of the election is a saving grace, the duo said that the fear in some quarters is that government controls the judiciary and other system, which may work against those wanting to go to court.

They lamented that INEC chairman is working against what he said when he visited Chatham House in London, when he promised to conduct the best election, insisting that the election should be cancelled.

“We wish to state for the records that last weekend’s election was a sham. It was neither free nor fair. What played out yesterday at the National Collation Centre exposes the national chairman of playing to a predetermined script. Our position remains that the election and transmission of the results must be in tandem with the Electoral Act and the INEC guidelines.

“There is no doubt that INEC is under a statutory obligation to transmit election results electronically. Paragraph 38 of the INEC manual made pursuant to section 149 of the Electoral Act 2022 and the 1999 constitution as amended provides for this. That paragraph, which deals with the transmission of results at the polling units, is crucial, and it imposes statutory obligations on the part of INEC to upload polling units’ results on its portal.

“There is no doubt that polling units results are the pyramid upon which other results are built. Therefore, it is required that the moment polls come to a close and the results are declared, the results must be uploaded on INEC server or portal.”

Buttressing their points with the Electoral Act, the duo said, “Paragraph 38 of INEC manual 2022 made pursuant to the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended and section 149 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that: ‘On completion of all the polling unit voting and results procedures, the presiding officer shall:

“(i) Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the commission.

“(ii) Use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the commission.

“(iii) Take the BVAS and the original copy of each of the forms in tamper evident envelope to the Registration Area/Ward Collation Officer, in the company of security agents.

“The polling agents may accompany the presiding officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre.”

They further said that “it is mandatory and compulsory. INEC has no option. So, the failure to upload results and follow the procedures set out in paragraph 38 of the manual made pursuant to the Electoral Act 2022, is a fundamental breach that has the potential of rendering the election results that did not follow those procedures null and void.

“For clarity, section 64 (4) (a) and (b) of the Electoral Act, 2022 specifically provide thus: ‘A collation officer or returning officer at an election shall collate and announce the result of an election subject to his or her verification and confirmation that the -(a) number of accredited voters stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 47 (2) of this Act; and

“(b) ‘Votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section (60) (4) of this Act.”

The duo further said: “Consequent on the above section 60 (4) of the Electoral Act 2022, any result announced by INEC is ultra vires, illegal, and of no consequence unless they are results already transmitted directly from the polling units. So procedurally, INEC cannot continue to announce results that are yet to be transmitted as expressly stated in the relevant sections of the Electoral Act.

“The law is that where the law has set out the procedures to be followed, that procedures and no other must be followed.”

The vice presidential candidates said that the argument that INEC guidelines have no force of law is idle and wayward arguments, adding that this is not even the question of alterations of the results.

“It is a question of non-compliance with mandatory statutory provisions. The argument that it is only when the Chief Electoral Officer of the Federation announces the winner of the presidential election that the results can be uploaded on the INEC portal cannot be correct. There must be uploading of results at the polling units after the polling officers had announced the winner at the polling units,” they said.

The duo called on the commission to thread on the path of honour by cancelling the election outright and commence the process of a fresh election that will not only be credible but will be seen to be credible by Nigerians.