Ayo Adebanjo demands suspension of collation over INEC server sabotage

Ayo Adeyanjo, the leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has joined calls for immediate suspension of collation of the presidential election results until the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) is able to resolve the collapse of its web infrastructure on Election Day.

In a phone conversation on Tuesday, Chief Adeyanjo disclosed that he is in agreement with calls by Olusegun Obasanja, the PDP and LP for the suspension of the results collations for INEC to look into Ekiti and other states, where complaints have been made about over-voting, bribery and corruption instead carrying on with process without intervention.

“The intimidation, bribery and corruption, they should look into it instead of going along with the collation.

“They should not tell people to go and apply medicine after death and sort the issue out, which I agree with it entirely.”




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The elder statesman said INEC has sent “us(Nigerians) to square one” despite the implementation of the new electoral law, with a promise by INEC that it would end malpractices in the nation’s electoral process. He emphatically stated it is impossible for the BVAS machine to work in some states while the system failed in other states.

“INEC should look into the complaints in Ekiti and other places where over-voting has been made, the BVAS machine that didn’t work, they should let them work. They(INEC) have sent us back to square one before the electoral laws saying the election would be free and fair, but that’s where they manipulate the results. So, they should correct it.

“How can it(BVAS) be working in four states and not work in other states?” Adebanjo, who backed Labour Party in the election, said.

Adebanjo’s statement followed similar demands from former President Olusegun Obasanjo and opposition bodies Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party.

PDP spokesperson Dino Melaye briefly disrupted the presentation of results at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, on Monday, calling on INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu to display the results captured on the commission’s IReV portal from each polling unit to crosscheck with the manual results being announced by the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) from each state during their presentation.

He argued it was the only way to confirm if the votes that were cancelled in part of some states for bypassing the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine were enforced in accordance with the Electoral Act before staging a walkout from the facility with the agent of Labour Party and other political parties as a protest after INEC refused to display results from the commission’s portal inside the venue.

Subsequently, Obasanjo asked President Muhammadu Buhari to address the Nigerians about the crisis surrounding the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS) and the danger looming ahead, stating "It is no secret that INEC officials, at the operational level, have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work."