TheCable

The Labour Party (LP) says it will be a “rape of democracy” if results of the general election don’t reflect the people’s will.

Julius Abure, national chairperson of the party, said this on Sunday in an interview with AIT while reacting to the concerns raised over the result viewing portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Abure alleged that the LP recieved report of manipulation of votes in Lagos, Rivers, Delta, and some states in the north, adding that INEC must ensure that the will of voters prevail.

“I must state clearly that we can say generally that the conduct of the elections were good in spite of the fact that there were challenges where voting materials arrived very late,” he said.

“There are instances where we didn’t have our presidential candidate on the ballot papers and several other irregularities but most worrisome is that till now, a lot of these results are not uploaded and this is the key of the matter.

“For us, we feel that the amendment of the electoral act is almost being defeated because results were frequently manipulated if they are not transmitted from the polling unit. And that was why Nigerians agitated to have an amendment to the electoral act which empowered INEC to use technology to transmit election results directly to the server.

“But as we speak today, in spite of the fact that elections have been conducted, these results are not transmitted from the polling units.

“Till now, INEC claimed that their servers are down. But this is not what INEC assured us. INEC gave assurances that the BVAS will work, that the servers will be open, and what is more worrisome to us now is that report reaching us has it that these results are being maniupulated in Lagos, Rivers, Delta, and several other states and even in some of the northern states and this has made us to be very very worried.

“If INEC’s server was not down and all these results were transmitted from the polling units, we won’t be worried. We will be sure that INEC has the result already in their server.

“Our fear is that the results that are being manipulated now is what INEC is going to manipulate and this will be a disaster. It will be a rape of democracy. It will defeat the wishes and aspirations of the people and it is most unfortunate for our democracy.

“So, Nigerians are watching, Nigerians are looking up to the authority, INEC most especially, to rise up to this occasion to ensure that the wishes and aspirations of the people are not defeated.”

Meanwhile, INEC has said the challenges experienced over the result portal were “technical hitches”, adding that the matter was being resolved.