The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, is planning to tamper with the results of the recently concluded general elections.
Nigeria’s Presidential and National Assembly elections were held on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, 29.
The APC made the allegation via a statement released by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.
The statement reads:
“The information that we have received since we issued our last statement is to the effect that the administration is holding clandestine meetings with security chiefs and others with the sole aim of altering or scuttling the results which they consider to be highly embarrassing and unpalatable, using malleable RECs (resident electoral commissioners).”
The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh has however denied the allegation.
Collation of results from the elections are currently ongoing and INEC has begun announcing final results from various states.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The United States and United Kingdom have hailed the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections which took place across Nigeria on Saturday and Sunday, describing the exercise as largely peaceful.
In a joint statement by the two countries, U.S. Secertary of State, John Kerry, and U.K Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, lauded Nigerians for showing a commendable determination to register their vote and choose their leaders.
While they admitted that so far, they had seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process, they, however, expressed worry that there may be “deliberate political interference” in the collation process.
They emphasised that such likely interference would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord which both leading political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress signed.
The statement added: “The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the independence of the electoral commission or its chairman, Professor Jega; or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people”.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Violent protests following Nigeria's presidential elections Saturday have sparked calls for calm from the two main candidates and a warning by the U.S. and Britain against political interference.
Protesters fired gunshots and torched a local electoral office in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers state on Sunday as they marched to protest the elections, amid claims of vote-rigging and voter intimidation.
Heavy rain eventually forced the protesters to leave, but there are fears that it will take more than rain to stop further protests and violence. More than 800 people were killed in post-election violence across Nigeria's north in 2011 after charges that those elections were illegitimate.
Now Nigeria has just held what are thought to be the closest elections since a return to democracy in 1999 after decades of military rule. The two main candidates are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party and retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress.
Jonathan and Buhari last week issued a pledge reaffirming their commitment to "free, fair and credible elections" following their signing of the Abuja Accord in January.
After the protests in Rivers, Buhari's All Progressives Congress demanded the elections there be canceled. "There's been so much violence in Rivers state that it's just not tenable," party spokesman Lai Mohammed said.
But the Peoples Democratic Party disputed the accusation, saying the election was "credible and the result reflects the overwhelming wish of the people of Rivers state to support President Goodluck Jonathan."
Concerns over count
"We are concerned by what seems to be happening," said Attahiru Jega, Nigeria's election chairman, about events in Rivers. Voting has now ended after problems with ballot papers and digital voting cards saw it extended to Sunday in some areas, and results are starting to come in.
Britain and the United States entered the fray Monday with their top diplomats issuing a statement welcoming a "largely peaceful vote" but warning any political interference would contravene Jonathan and Buhari's peace pact.
"So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process. But there are disturbing indications that the collation process — where the votes are finally counted — may be subject to deliberate political interference. This would contravene the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both major parties committed themselves," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
Peaceful conduct
The fear is that the results may not be accepted by the loser. If the opposition believes it has been rigged out of victory by the ruling party, then the protests in Rivers could spread to northern Nigeria.
Both candidates have taken to social media to call for calm.
"I want to urge all Nigerians to also wait patiently for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to collate and announce results," stated Jonathan on his Facebook account.
"Fellow Nigerians, I urge you to exercise patience and vigilance as we wait for all results to be announced," said Buhari on Twitter.
In a broadcast to the nation Friday, Jonathan said security agencies were fully prepared to deal decisively with "any group or persons who attempt to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections."
"Those who may harbor any intentions of testing our will by unleashing violence during the elections in order to advance their political ambitions should think again as all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that any persons who breach the peace or cause public disorder during or after the elections are speedily apprehended and summarily dealt with according to our laws," the President said.
The International Criminal Court also issued a warning that anyone inciting or engaging in electoral violence "at a time when abhorrent levels of violence already plague parts of the country" is subject to prosecution, "either by Nigerian Courts or by the ICC."
"No one should doubt my Office's resolve to prosecute individuals responsible for the commission of ICC crimes, whenever necessary," ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in the statement.
Boko Haram
Nigeria's polls had been scheduled for February 14, but on February 7, Nigeria's election commission announced they would be postponed for six weeks due to security concerns, with the military needing more time to secure areas controlled by extremist group Boko Haram. The controversial decision was unpopular among many Nigerians and led to widespread protests.
Jonathan has been criticized for not doing enough to combat Boko Haram, which is waging a campaign of terror aimed at instituting a stricter version of Sharia law in Nigeria.
On Saturday, residents in the northeastern state of Gombe said at least 11 people were killed and two more injured in attacks at polling stations, apparently by Boko Haram extremists.
In other attacks not believed to be related to voting, suspected Boko Haram militants decapitated 23 people in a raid Saturday night on Buratai village in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, according to residents and Ibrahim Adamu, a local politician in the village.
Meanwhile on Monday, Nigeria's police force issued a statement saying police and a "local vigilante group" had foiled an attack by unknown gunmen on the town of Tafawa Balewa in northeastern Bauchi state.
The assailants had "stormed Tafawa Balewa town in a convoy of 18 Hilux vehicles and started firing sporadically," the statement said. After being forced to retreat and abandon four vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns, the attackers went to Jitar village, where they killed three "male vigilante members," police said. Security forces had cordoned off the surrounding area, they said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
* Empty streets, closed shops in flashpoint city Kaduna
* Protests in Rivers, Bauchi states
* Concerns over collation process (Adds results from key states Kaduna, Kano)
By Tim Cocks and Alexis Akwagyiram
ABUJA, March 30 (Reuters) – Nigerian presidential challenger Muhammadu Buhari recorded thumping majorities in key northern states on Monday, as the United States and Britain expressed concerns about meddling with the vote count.
Buhari, a 72-year-old former military ruler who has campaigned as a born-again democrat intent on cleaning up the corrupt politics of Africa's most populous nation, won 1.1 million votes in the flashpoint city of Kaduna.
President Goodluck Jonathan, a 57-year-old southern Christian, won 484,000 votes there.
The city, scene of three days of bloodletting after Buhari lost to Jonathan in the last election in 2011, was tense but quiet as the results trickled in, with the roads empty of traffic and many shops and homes shuttered.
Buhari, a northern Muslim, also won 1.9 million votes in Kano against 216,000 for Jonathan, an indication of the political polarisation that has deepened over the last five years under Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Although the economy has been growing at 7 percent or more, scandals over billions of dollars in missing oil receipts and the eruption of an Islamist insurgency in which thousands have died have undermined Jonathan's popularity.
Although the early results will hearten the Buhari camp, they are far from conclusive in an election forecast to be the closest since the end of military rule in 1999.
In his native Rivers state, the volatile and hotly contested home of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, Jonathan won a massive 95 percent of the vote.
The results coming from states such as Rivers have prompted suspicion among diplomats, observers and the opposition, whose sympathisers took to the streets in protest.
Police fired tear gas at a crowd of 100 female supporters of Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) demonstrating outside the regional offices of the INEC election commission.
"Their intention was to destroy INEC materials," a policeman at the scene told Reuters.
"DISTURBING"
The weekend vote was marred by confusion, technical glitches, arguments and occasional violence but in many places proved to be less chaotic than previous elections in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer.
At least 15 people were shot dead on polling day, most of them in the northeast where the islamist insurgent group Boko Haram has declared war on democracy in its fight to revive a mediaeval caliphate in the sands of the southern Sahara.
However, the United States and Britain said that after the vote there were worrying signs of political interference in the centralised tallying of the results.
"So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a joint statement.
"But there are disturbing indications that the collation process – where the votes are finally counted – may be subject to deliberate political interference," they added.
Such views are likely to fuel an APC belief of political skulduggery, and increase the chances of a repeat of the 2011 post-election violence in which 800 people were killed, most of them in the predominantly Muslim north.
Even before preliminary tallies were recorded on Sunday, the party rejected the outcome in Rivers state and denounced the vote there as "a sham and a charade".
PDP also painted itself as a victim of rigging, but said it would make no difference.
"We are confident of victory," party spokesman Femi Fani-Kayode told journalists. "Any attempt to manipulate figures or to rig us out from any quarter will be firmly resisted."
COLLATION CONCERNS
World powers and international investors are watching the conduct of the poll closely to see whether one of Africa's most important states can improve its patchy record.
Fitch cut Nigeria's credit outlook to negative on early on Monday, but kept its BB- rating, citing the political uncertainty.
However, the stock market climbed 1.7 percent, narrowly missing a three-week high in its seventh consecutive day in the black as domestic investors bet on a relatively smooth outcome.
Bonds also gained, dealers said. The naira traded at 218 against the dollar on the black market, roughly in line with its levels before the election.
"If there's no post-election violence, the market will rise," said Ayodeji Ebo, head of research at Afrinvest in Lagos.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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