Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has knocked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the conduct and outcome of the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
According to Afenifere, the commission did not comply with electoral guidelines in the last election.
The organisation made this assertion in a communique issued after its general meeting made available to newsmen by the Secretary General of the association, Mr Sola Ebiseni, in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Wednesday.
According to the group, the alleged non-compliance with the electoral guidelines by the INEC caused a series of malpractices during the last general election.
The communique partly reads,” The deliberate non-compliance by the Commission with these mandatory guidelines encouraged electoral brigandage at the polling units which included the destruction of ballot papers, snatching of ballot boxes;
“Doctoring of figures and swapping of votes of candidates at the coalition centres by amended and outlawed manual procedures which rendered the 25th February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections flawed in several respects as confirmed by local and international observers.
“The results of the lawful votes at the election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that His Excellency Peter Gregory Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party won the said election and we thus support his decision challenging the contrary Declaration by the INEC.”
The group insisted that the Labour Part’s candidate, Peter Obi won the presidential election, saying, “We denounced in strong terms and dissociate Afenifere from any congratulatory message in the name of the Organisation or howsoever to any candidate as illegally declared by the INEC.”
“Afenifere reiterates that for equity, fairness, national cohesion and peaceful corporate existence, the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a person of its Southern part and specifically the South-East,” the statement added.
It called on Nigerians to troop out en masse and participate fully in the governorship and houses of assembly elections coming up on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
Recall that the leader of the group worldwide, Pa Reuben Fasoranti had earlier sent a congratulatory letter to the President-Elect, Tinubu on his victory in the last presidential election.
In the letter, Fasoranti advised the President-Elect to avoid the mistakes of his predecessors.
The letter read in part, “You now have the opportunity. Now is the time for you to prove me right. I pray to God to be with you.
“In going about this, avoid the mistake of some of your forbears. Be fair to all concerned. Go ahead to unite the country, see and treat the country as one.
“Be a federalist. Allow the big ethnic groups to exist and respect one another, but also allow the small ones to feel proud and wanted in the spirit of federalism as practised in the USA.”
