2023 Elections: INEC Cannot Be Trusted –AAC Presidential Candidate, Sowore

The Independent National Electoral Commission, according to African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, cannot be relied upon to hold a free and fair election in Nigeria.

Responding to inquiries on Wednesday at “The Roundtable,” a program hosted by PUNCH Newspapers, Sowore stated that although Nigerians expected elections to be held, they could not compel INEC to hold them.

According to the editor of Sahara Reporters, INEC has instead conducted selections rather than elections in the past.

Be the first to know when we drop interesting posts
like this, sign up to receive our notifications.

He accused INEC of conspiring with the ruling party every election year to manipulate the political system in order to make the electorate lose interest in the poll.

There was no election in 2019, I can state categorically as I do everywhere. I took part in the 2019 election. But this is how it began: I was waiting in my village for the poll when INEC abruptly decided to postpone it by, I believe, two weeks.

“…Some of our coworkers who traveled from the US, Europe, and South Africa to cast their votes had to depart. And the number was not insignificant. I’m not claiming that the number would have given me the victory, but when the election was delayed, many lost interest because they questioned whether it would be held again.”

“Elections in 2015 were similarly delayed for security reasons. Why were they discussing delaying the election while Borno State’s governor claimed that 90% of the state was free from Boko Haram control? It’s not true, in my opinion. However, they are claiming that 90% of Borno is open for rigging so that they may gather their impressive numbers from all those phony polling booths where they claim voters are present but where no one actually resides.

“Most importantly, it demonstrates that INEC cannot be relied upon because it is an ineffective electoral authority, as I have repeatedly stated.

No matter how you look at it, elections organized by INEC have consistently had problems. “We hear about over-voting, over-registration, and all those electoral malpractices that they claimed the BVAS had fixed, even in Osun where they claimed that their BVAS, or magic wand, worked,” Sowore added.

The website had no ability to handle the high volume of individuals seeking to use it, which made it challenging to obtain fast results, he continued, adding that he had signed in to the INEC website to check the results of the Osun State election.

When more than 50 million individuals attempt to visit the website simultaneously at home and during the general election, what will they do?

See also  Atiku returns from UK
They’re not prepared. That’s the truth, he declared.

Nigerians should demand from INEC nothing less than a free and fair election, the convener of #RevolutionNow urged, adding that “we have already paid for it and INEC should not come up with any excuse.”

“What we want is an election, but we cannot force them (INEC) to organize an election,” Sowore remarked. In reference to 2007 elections, he pointed out that President Umar Yar’Adua was chosen through election. Even Yar’Adua himself declared that the election that gave rise to him was not the right kind of poll to produce a leader.

When asked why he was taking part in a system he did not like, the AAC presidential candidate responded that it was both his right and his decision to do so. “So, I decide whether or not to take part,” he stated.