Nigeria: opposition celebration chief heads protest outdoors electoral fee workplaces

Nigeria’s opposition chief Atiku Abubakar who got here second in a February 25 presidential ballot took to the streets on Monday alongside along with his supporters to contest the election outcomes.

The electoral physique final week declared Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because the winner to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in Could.

Nearly 25 million folks forged ballots in a vote that was largely peaceable however marred by lengthy delays and technical glitches, angering voters and opposition events who’ve claimed large vote-rigging.

Abubakar’s supporters and members of his Peoples Democratic Get together (PDP) wearing black to stroll to the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC)’s headquarters in Abuja and submit a petition, claiming electoral fraud.

INEC has “direct involvement in aiding and abetting the monumental rigging and manipulation of the election leads to favour of the ruling celebration,” mentioned Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP chairman.

“It’s actually an appalling scenario,” mentioned one other PDP chief, Baraka Sani, surrounded by protesters with banners saying “Save our democracy” and “INEC is corrupt”.

The fee has acknowledged technical difficulties on the day of the vote however rejects claims of fraud.

The Labour Get together’s Peter Obi, who got here in third within the election, has additionally rejected the outcomes, and mentioned he was going to court docket to show to Nigerians he gained the presidential race.

Operating for a sixth time, “Atiku”, as Abubakar is thought, has not clearly mentioned if he’s going to court docket, however he’s consulting legal professionals to “determine the following line of motion”.

Nigerian elections have usually been marred by fraud allegations.

In a bid to enhance transparency, INEC this 12 months launched biometric voter identification for the primary time on the nationwide stage in addition to IReV, a central on-line database for importing outcomes.

However some voters and opposition events mentioned failures within the system when importing tallies allowed for poll manipulation and disparities between the handbook and on-line outcomes.

Issues with the brand new know-how additionally triggered big delays and queues, discouraging some from voting.

With registered voters numbering 93.4 million, turnout was simply over 27 % — even lower than within the 2019 election.

INEC is ready to deal with a number of the issues raised by events and voters earlier than key governorship and native meeting elections on Saturday.