Rivers Lawmaker to Atiku: Challenge Presidential Election Result in Court

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

A Rivers State federal lawmaker representing Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency, Farah Dagogo, has urged the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to challenge Saturday’s presidential election result in court.

Dagogo, described the election result as “a sham and charade, which if allowed to stand,” would thwart the resolve of majority of Nigerians and set a bad precedent.

The federal lawmaker opined that Atiku won the election convincingly, alleging that his victory was upturned in the boardroom.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had yesterday, declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the presidential election.

Dagogo, faulted the outcome of the election, insisting that it was not transparent, credible, rather fraught with irregularities. He described it as one of the worst in the history of elections in the country.

He fingered, what he termed deliberate disregard, for section 64 (4 and 6) of the Electoral Act on the collation of results, adding that it aided in fraudulently subverting the will and votes of the majority.

“For the first time in a long while, Nigerians came out in their numbers, determined to vote and have a say on who will lead them out of the abyss and storm they had weathered for almost eight years.

“Regrettably, a few minorities succeeded in altering the will and determination of the majority with unrestrained impunity. This election, if it could even be termed so, should rank as the worst in the history of elections in the country.

“This election lacks transparency and credibility, it was a sham and charade, which if allowed to stand, would have thwarted the resolve of majority of Nigerians and set a bad precedent.

“I will advise and strongly urge my party, the PDP and our presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar to challenge the outcome in court. Atiku has the support of majority of Nigerians who voted for him and those votes ensured he won convincingly.

“By so doing, Atiku and the PDP will not only be on the front path of salvaging the progression of the country but also reclaim Atiku’s victory that was unfortunately upturned in the boardroom.”

He added: “I am of the conviction that the Temple of Justice will listen to the cries of Nigerians, who are seriously disenchanted and rightly livid, by using its gavel to administer justice thereby erasing this sad episode from our history.

“For instance, Section 64 (4) of the Electoral Act states that ‘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 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 and that the votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units.”

Furthermore, he pointed out that, Section 64(6) states that “where during collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, the collation officer or returning officer shall use the following to determine the correctness of the disputed result – the original of the disputed collated result for each polling unit where the election is disputed ; the smart card reader or other technology device used for accreditation of voters in each polling unit where the election is disputed for the purpose of obtaining accreditation data directly from the smart card reader or technology device; data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed and; the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed.”