Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
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In what he considered as defamatory, statements by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that he compromised the February 25 presidential and parliamentary elections, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has threatened to sue PDP.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi on Friday, Yakubu warned officials of the PDP to stop further maligning of his character in the media or be ready to meet him in Court for libel.
The PDP and which felt disappointed in the presidential and parliamentary elections following the controversial declaration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, called on INEC boss to resign from office.
Oyekanmi in the statement asked the PDP to go to court and present the bagful of evidence it claims to have rather than subjecting the process to a media trial.
He lampooned the opposition party for calling for the resignation of Yakubu as INEC Chairman.
“Interestingly, the PDP did not provide any convincing evidence to back up all the spurious allegations it listed as Prof. Yakubu’s ‘infractions’.
“To be sure, the PDP failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the allegations of Yakubu’s ‘brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines, and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results’.
“The PDP also did not give the evidence to prove its claims that Prof. Yakubu ‘sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results from polling units.’
“Besides, the ‘several evidences’ that the PDP claimed ‘abound in the six geo-political zones of the country where winning figures scored by the PDP were switched in favour of the APC’ were also not laid bare.
“To be sure, the Commission does not rig elections. Rather, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS has, since its introduction, among other innovations, ensuring the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring that only properly registered voters are allowed to vote on Election Day.
“It is common knowledge that the PDP has rejected the outcome of the presidential election and has vowed to challenge it in court.
“The path of honour for the party, therefore, is to pursue its case in court, armed with all the evidence at its disposal and wait for the court’s decision.
“But going about canvassing the same issues the party intends to plead in court on the pages of newspapers and calling for the resignation of the INEC Chairman is like putting the cart before the horse.
“More importantly, the PDP is hereby reminded that making libellous allegations against the person of the INEC Chairman is actionable. The party should henceforth desist from the practice”.
