Senate president Bukola Saraki has questioned the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to declare Osun state governorship election inconclusive.
According to the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) presidential aspirant, in his ‘layman’s opinion, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was wrong in declaring the Osun Gubernatorial election as inconclusive because the votes in certain polling units were cancelled.’
Saraki in a statement released on Sunday, explained that ‘the decision of INEC to cancel the election in those areas after voting had taken place, means that INEC had already excluded the votes in these areas from the election process and therefore those units should have no place in the overall results.’
The Senate president said his opinion would have been different, if the election in the affected units did not take place at all, may be as a result of malfunctioning of the card readers or unavailability of the electoral materials.
Saraki stressed that, ‘because the voting took place and was cancelled, only the courts can reverse the initial decision by INEC to cancel the votes in these areas.’
The Senate president, therefore called the PDP and its candidate to seek further legal interpretation on this decision by the electoral body. He also said he wondered if so, would have been the case, if it was APC that was leading.
One cannot but wonder whether if places were reversed, and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was the one leading in the election, if INEC would have taken the same decision that it has taken now, he said.
He also urged INEC to display courage, boldness, independence, neutrality and patriotism so as to send signals to the world at large that the Nigerian electoral system has come of age and that our democracy has matured.
via: INFORMATION NIGERIA
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