The Concerned Northern Forum (CNF) has called on those who feel aggrieved in the presidential and National Assembly elections to approach the law courts, follow the laid down procedures, and lodge their case to avoid creating tensions and causing disaffection amongst Nigerians across tribal and political divides.
The forum noted that sponsoring protests and making inflammatory comments is unacceptable and a direct call for anarchy and enjoined all stakeholders to refuse to be used to cause unnecessary crisis in the country.
Briefing newsmen in Kaduna on Friday, the spokesman of the forum, Abdulsalam Moh’d Kazeem, congratulated Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his well-deserved victory as the President-elect and Nigerians for ensuring peaceful conduct of the elections last Saturday in most parts of the country.
The forum saluted the courage of the Chairman, of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmud Yakubu, for making history and delivering an impeccable election despite the aggressive work of saboteurs and enemies of democracy in Nigeria.
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The spokesman said, “What Prof. Mahmud Yakubu has done by maneuvering through all the hurdles and giving a worthy election deserves commendations and not condemnation.”
He stated that despite widespread fears bothering on insecurity, kidnappings, and the judgment of many analysts that elections would not hold in many parts of the country, he added that INEC under Mahmoud Yakubu delivered a successful world-class election all over the country including flashpoints of violent extremism and terrorism such as Borno and Zamfara states as well as the Naira redesign and fiscal policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, INEC manage to conduct the presidential and National Assembly elections.
He added that the facts are there for everyone to see, saying that insinuating that the just concluded elections are not free and fair is laughable because, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, Lagos state voted against Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Buhari lost elections in his state.
He also added that about seven (7) serving Governors lost their senatorial elections, wondering that if the elections were not free and fair, how come all the contesting political parties won in areas that were not their strongholds and even had elected representatives?
Abdulsalam noted that those hanging onto the issue surrounding the upload of results on the INEC portal should note that the Electoral Act did not state that results should be uploaded in IReV, pointing out that it was just part of INEC guidelines that cannot be seen to supersede the law.
He noted that those calling for the cancellation of the election are enemies of Nigeria and must not be given a listening ear, saying that calling for the cancellation of an election that has been conducted in the most peaceful and orderly manner across the country is simply mischievous and a call for the abortion of democracy.
He alleged that last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections were the best Nigeria ever had and cannot be compared to the 1993 or even 1999 elections, stressing that even in developed democracies, elections are never completely without challenges.
As with all human setups, he explained that it would be a lie to deny that the human elements and technology employed in the conduct of elections all over the world are perfect and called on INEC to continue the good work they have already started by consistently working towards fixing the anomalies discovered in the past elections.
“The success gained through the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) should be sustained with the inclusion of other technologies such as Blockchain to keep hackers and other criminals away from tempering with the people’s mandate. To call for the cancellation of this election is to downplay the tireless efforts of the Commission and the resources expended so far to give Nigeria the best elections in Africa and the world at large,” he explained.
