The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (APCC) says the call for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is not a solution to delivering a credible election.
The Director, Election Monitoring and Planning, Babatunde Raji Fashola, said this on Wednesday at a news conference in Abuja, on what the APC agents at the State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit level must do on Election Day.
Fashola, who urged Nigerians not to allow the actions of anti-democratic agents to dampen their enthusiasm, implored INEC to work in order to earn the confidence of Nigerians again that it could conduct credible election.
He said great democracies and successful societies were the product of sacrifice and determination.
He said, “Election and lack of elections have consequences. Many people have fought hard for this democracy, it has delivered uncomfortable results in the past as well as results we can live with and every effort to continue to improve it is an opportunity we must not turn our back on.
“Every party is disappointed, every well-meaning Nigerian is disappointed, but that is no reason to throw the baby away with the bath water.
“So, it is for the INEC Chairman and his team to reclaim the confidence of the people and show us that they can deliver on what they have been asked to do. If you ask him to resign, will that give us an election?
“If he resigns, will that give us an election? If the person who has been there for four years is having challenges now, who is prepared that will replace him and do what he has not been able to do in three and half years. The party that is thinking that way does not even know how government works.
“The solution is for all Nigerians to rally round INEC to get it right and that is what we intend to do.”
Fashola added, “A lot of Nigerians have sacrificed greatly and sometimes supremely with their lives to give us this democracy.
“We must covert the disappointment of 16th February 2019 to an all-time determination on the 23rd of February 2019 that others have made.
“It is democracy that will preserve our freedom and the vigilance, particularly of those appointed to serve as agents of our party must be all time high.
“Our agents must know what their rights are and notify the public of our commitment to a free election. The agents have a right to be admitted to polling centres and collation centre in the area where the party is contesting election.
“They have a right to take notes and statistics in a manner to undermine or impugn the integrity of the electoral process. They have a right to object to a prospective voter if he is suspected to be an impostor or if he has voted earlier and the record shows that if he does not belong to that polling unit.
“These are steps taken to ensure free and fair election. They also have a right to ask for a recount of the ballot only once at his polling unit after his presiding officer might have counted it in his presence.”
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