POLITICS Opposition attempt to discredit election will fail - APC PCC

The All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign Council has called on the opposition political parties to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to do its job of collating the election result without interference.

A statement yesterday by Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media & Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council yesterday said it has noticed the disingenuous attempts by the opposition parties, spokesmen of their campaign councils and their hired talking heads on Television and Radio Stations to discredit the presidential and National Assembly elections conducted nationwide yesterday.

“Noteworthy are spokespersons of Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council and that of the Peoples Democratic Party/Atiku

Deputy Majority Leader, Akpatason wins

Ako-Edo federal constituency

By Christiana Ekpa

The Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Peter Akpatason of the All Progressives Party, has emerged winner of the election into the House of Representatives to represent Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency for a record fourth term.

Professor Robert Okuonghae, the Independent National Electoral Commission collation officer, disclosed that Akpatason scored 14,982 votes to defeat Hon Kabiru Adjoto of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, who polled 9,293 votes, while the Labour Party polled 7,993

Presidential Campaign Council,” the statement said.

It said two persons it considered as respectable citizens, Professor Pat Utomi and Director-General of Peter Obi Campaign Council, Mr. Akin Osuntokun threw caution to the wind by their inciting and incendiary comments on social media and TV stations where they have been making baseless and irresponsible allegations of electoral manipulations and other malpractices against our party and the electoral umpire, all in a bid to cause disaffection and civil unrest in the country.

“We must also stress that we have noticed many partisan talking heads claiming to be Election Observers on radio and TV stations who are presenting skewed and patently false narratives about the general conduct of the election across the country.

“Both Labour Party and PDP have accused INEC of conspiracy to rig election result in favour of our party, anchoring their allegation on the agency’s inability to upload election results on its website.

“ While we call on INEC to expedite action on the process of uploading the results, we want to state categorically that there is nothing unusual about the seeming delay.

“INEC returning officers bringing the results to the National Collation Centre from the 36 states, may be contending with possible travel logistics as witnessed on Day One of the collation on Sunday, when only Ekiti state was ready with its result. There could also be technical issues with INEC Results Viewing Portal which we are sure the commission will quickly resolve,” the statement said.

It added: “It is worth stating that election results have been announced and made public at polling units and duly signed by accredited party agents in line with the Electoral Law. There is no political party that does not have election results from all the over 176,000 polling units across the country except for few locations election didn’t hold. The Abuja Collation is merely ceremonial.

“While the law stipulates that the INEC Chairman who is the National Returning Officer for the Presidential election should declare the result, it is also a fact that no party can claim ignorance about its performance from every polling unit through their Situation Rooms updates from party agents.

“This brazen attempt to discredit this election that is adjudged to be the most peaceful, credible, open, transparent, free and fair in the history of our

Election results: APC warns PDP, LP not to overheat polity

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Festus Keyamo, SAN, the spokesperson of the Tinubu/ Shettima Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, has warned the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Labour Party, LP, to stop overheating the polity with remarks on the yet-to- be-announced Saturday’s election.

In a statement to journàlists on Sunday, Keyamo cautioned opposition supporters to be wary of comments capable of causing post-election violence.

He appealed to PDP, LP and other parties to respect the peace accord they signed before the presidential election.

Keyamo urged that all parties allow INEC to do its constitutionally assigned responsibility without intimidation.

He called on the international observers and communities not to be distracted.

“We have all campaigned hard and strongly. The Nigerian people have listened to all of us and made their decisions. Now is the time to hear the voices of Nigerians as the results are released and not our own voices. The body officially designated to reflect the voices of Nigerians is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). No Party can bully them by threatening to do its bidding. Neither will the APC be cowed into silence by the disgusting antics of the opposition parties,” he stated. country will fail.

“We suspect that the opposition parties making unnecessary fuss over the results of the poll are only afraid of facing the reality of their defeat. Elections are not a do or die affair. They are meant to be won by some and lost by some.

“The 2023 Presidential election has been successfully conducted and results announced at polling units, wards, local councils and at the state level.

“ We advise politicians to allow the remaining part of the process to go on without intimidation and harassment of INEC.

“We call on the security agencies to be alert and ruthlessly deal with anyone seeking to destabilise our country with reckless, subversive and obnoxious statements on the social media, TV and radio platforms.”

ADC reps member retains Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi

By Musa Baba Adamu

The candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Elder Leke Abejide, has won the House of Representatives election in Yagba Federal Constituency of Kogi State.

Abejide won in all three local government areas in the federal constituency (Mopamuro, Yagba West and Yagba East) in a landslide victory.

The results were announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation officer, Dr. Okpanachi Stephen on Sunday in Isanlu, headquarters of the Federal Constituency.

“Hon. Abejide polled 23271 votes to defeat his closest rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Engr. Folorunsho Olafemi who garnered 10426 votes.”

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the race, Hon. Tolorunjuwon Faniyi managed to poll 6421 votes to come a distant third.