Former Senate President, Dr Adolphus Wabara, has expressed disappointment over the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to upload the results of last Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections directly from the polling units contrary to its earlier assurances.
Wabara who addressed newsmen in Umuahia, dismissed the polls as a sham because of the way INEC handled it after the people had turned up massively to cast their ballots.
The former Senate President who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the shameful conduct of INEC at the polls had subjected Nigeria to mockery before the international community.
He called for the outright cancellation of the polls and the conduct of a fresh election if the unity and continued existence of the country mattered anything to those behind what he called the broad-day rape and murder of the Nigeria democracy.
” It’s a sham! You can see from the international observers how they condemned what we called election in the 21st century.
” So, that thing has to be cancelled in the interest of Nigeria and the unity of the country.
” There is no hope again for the country. We have killed democracy in Nigeria!
” It was like in those days when people won election at all cost and ask their opponents to go to court. But I thought we had passed that stage, and are now responsible.”
Wabara maintained that but for rigging, there was no way Nigerians would have reasonably voted for APC after passing through hell in the hands of the ruling party these eight years.
” The indices were there before the election even to the blind that Nigerians really wanted a genuine change.
” If the PDP or even the Labour Party had won, I’m not sure we would have this coldness that has enveloped the country. By now there would have been celebration all over the country.
” Nobody should make any pretense about it, Nigeria has not fared any better under the APC. Rather what we saw was retrogression, frustration, killings, hunger and everything negative”.
He noted that no pre-election opinion poll results favoured the APC, insisting that the result of the presidential election was doctored to favour the ruling party.
” Even the blind opinion poll didn’t have APC coming to take over. If this is allowed, Nigeria will not have a place in the international community. There won’t be any respect whatsoever for us again.”
The former Senate President expressed doubts if the judiciary be courageous enough to correct the anomaly.
” Our democracy has died because I don’t have any hope in the judiciary. They are the same thing unless we have a bold judge who is prepared to lose his job the next day, but we don’t have them many”.
The PDP BoT Chairman, said he would convene emergency meeting of the the BoT members immediately after the March 11 governorship and House of Assembly polls to review the elections.
He explained that the reason for delaying the meeting until after the next election was to allow the members and other stakeholders to focus well on the upcoming elections.
Wabara who appealed for calm among PDP members as well as the Nigeria youths, called for a thorough investigation of INEC to restore public confidence in the electoral process.
