Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has claimed that the real reason the North is celebrating the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect, is because it thinks that he is sick and could die in office so that his running mate from the North could take over.
CAN Chairman, Abia State chapter, Apostle Emmanuel Agonmuo, who made the claims while speaking with our Correspondent, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of compromising Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections.
According to the CAN boss, INEC has dashed the hope and expectations of Nigerians particularly the youths who believed the assurances by the electoral umpire that the polls would be credible.
The cleric challenged INEC to explain to the world why it failed to live up to its promise of transmitting election results from the polling units.
He accused INEC of deliberately working in cahoots with some bad elements to subvert the will of the Nigerian voters on Saturday.
The cleric alleged the the delays in uploading the poll results, and the resort to manual collation gave room for manipulation.
He accused INEC of betraying the trust and public confidence reposed in the electoral umpire adding that the announcement of a winner of the contest when no contestants had actually emerged according to the New Electoral Act.
“INEC didn’t upload results to the server as it promised. We are not comfortable.”
The CAN boss, however, appealed for calm and advised against any act capable of causing security breaches.
“We urge our people to be calm. We are praying.”
The CAN Chairman, who expressed lack of trust in the fairness of the judiciary, however, advised those who lost at the elections not to bother seeking redress in court but to leave justice in the hands of God.
He regretted that the judiciary, especially in the recent times, had been known for controversial judgments.
“Obi and Atiku should forget going to court. They should not go to waste their money because I don’t have faith in the Nigeria judiciary. If you don’t have big money you may not get justice in the Nigeria judiciary .”
In his response, the traditional ruler of Abiriba ancient kingdom, HRM Eze Kalu Kalu Ogbu (Enachioken Abiriba), also expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of INEC at the polls.
He regretted that the polls had exposed INEC to ridicule, and also done a lot of damage in the Nigerian youths whom he said, would find it difficult to trust INEC again.
He said that the process of collating the results was flawed and highly compromised.
“Nobody will accept that result because it’s no result. They just sat and wrote that thing they call result.
“Somebody thinks he can do everything and get away with it but in this one, it’s very unfortunate, he won’t get away with it.
“I believe that at the end of the day truth will be told and the real winner of the presidential election will be known.”
