Festus Keyamo, the spokesman of APC Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu led a team to an international press conference in Washington, United States on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The team comprising Festus Keyamo, Sunday Dare (Minister of Youths and Sports); and Ajuri Ngelale submitted that the election was free and fair with no iota of rigging as claimed by opposition parties.
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Among issues raised during the parley was the setback suffered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), months before the 2023 presidential election which according to them, resulted in the party’s failure at the polls.
It also praised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting a free and fair election.
Below are ten major points raised during the press conference as extracted by Naija News.
1. President Muhammdu Buhari provided a level playing ground for the conduct of the 2023 elections particularly through the signing of the Electoral Act 2022.
2. Keyamo claimed that about eight months before the elections, the main opposition PDP, suffered some major setbacks with the defection of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso ahead of the polls.
3. BVAS did not fail on election day while IREV is just a viewing portal, which has nothing to do with accreditation or verification of voters or even the counting or recording of votes.
4. Parties challenging the INEC results for the 2023 presidential elections are hypocrites and should provide contrary reports to support the claim that the election was rigged.
5. Only Bola Tinubu of the APC met all the constitutional requirements needed to be declared winner of the February 25 election.
6. The APC lost in some stronghold states such as Lagos and Kano because of the credibility of the election.
7. 2023 elections recorded the lowest casualty rates ever in the history of elections in Nigeria.
8. The aggrieved parties should go to court and argue their case rather than spreading false tales about the 2023 election across the world.
9. Security agents and other state apparatus were not deployed to intimidate voters or influence the election outcome.
10. Arrangements for the handover ceremonies are in full gear for the President-elect to take the Oath of Office as President of Nigeria on May 29th, 2023.
Below is an excerpt of the address tagged ‘THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2023: SEPARATING THE FACTS FROM FICTIONS.’
The country’s out-going President, Muhammadu Buhari, signed into law a Bill that seeks to improve our electoral process by introducing technology as a means of accrediting voters at the polling units. This is known as the ELECTORAL ACT, 2022. The opposition and international observers hailed him on this.
There was also complete non-interference in the political process by State institutions. There were no reports of deployment of security agents or State apparati in support of the candidate of the ruling party. In fact, in some instances, the opposition celebrated the fact that our candidate had no support of the Government. These led to well-published reports (albeit false) that the President was not in support of the candidate of his own party.
The ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled 21 out of the 36 States of the country and the FCT before the elections with elected Governors; whilst the main opposition, the People’s Demoratic Party (PDP) had 14 Governors and the All Progressives Grand Alliance had one Governor. The Labour Party had no single Governor or elected official at any level of Government.
Contrary to the false outcry by the opposition, the main technological device, Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) did not fail on the election day. All the local and international observers scored the use of BVAS very high, with one local body called YIAGA, working in coalition with the EU and other International Observers, saying it recorded 88% success in all the polling units it monitored. The Nigeria Bar Association also issued its report saying only 8 percent of voters were not satisfied with the process on that day. The portal that the opposition made so much noise about, IREV, is just a viewing portal, which has nothing to do with accreditation or verification of voters or even the counting or recording of votes.
Whilst we hold no brief for the Electoral Commission, it sufficiently explained to Nigerians the next day that the delay in uploading the results to the viewing portal was as a result of a technical glitch. And since the results have since been uploaded eventually, none of the parties have produced their own copies of the result sheets obtained at various polling units that substantially contradicts the results released and announced by the Electoral Commission. Even in their Election Petitions presently before the Court, no such alternative figures have been provided. So, what is all the fuss about?
It is significant to note that some other elections into the Senate and House of Representatives held on the same day, at the same time and with the same personnel. The opposition candidates have since gleefully gone to collect their Certificates of Return for the various seats they won. Why did they not reject the outcome of those elections too and reject their Certificate of Return? This is hypocrisy taken too far.
