The Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council stated on Sunday that its supporters will not abandon their planned statewide demonstration unless the Independent National Election Commission provides LP's attorneys access to evidence from the contested February 25 presidential election.
Controversy had trailed the outcome of the presidential election, in which the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party flag bearer, who received 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes, respectively. Dissatisfied with the outcome, both Obi and Atiku petitioned the election tribunal for permission to review the voting papers.
A few days later, the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted their requests for scrutiny of the election materials, but the commission refused to provide the warring parties access. The development comes four days after INEC obtained a court injunction to reconfigure the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System machines ahead of the March 18 gubernatorial and state Assembly elections.
But, Yunusa Tanko, the chief spokesman for the Obi campaign committee, insisted that they would not back down from mobilising supporters to seize INEC offices around the country. Tanko accused INEC of defying the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal's order to provide Obi and the party with certified true copies of materials utilised in the election's conduct.
"We didn't choose a date for the demonstration because we wanted to give INEC until Monday to respond to us first. "But when they (INEC) fail to do what they are supposed to do, our followers will hit the streets, with the grace of God. "There is no turning back," he remarked. When asked if INEC is willing to comply with Obi's legal team's request, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Public Secretary, declined to answer.
In the similar vein, Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Public Relations Officer, stated that he was unsure if the LP had written the police. He did, however, promise to get back to Reporters. As of the time of publication, the police spokesman had not responded to the planned protest.
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