Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Wednesday, refused to acknowledge Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
Afenifere insisted that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, was the actual winner of the contest.
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation which has never hidden its support for Obi, hailed the Labour Party’s resolve to challenge Tinubu’s questionable victory in court.
This was contained in a communique issued after its Special General Meeting, held, at Isanya-Ogbo, Ogun State, on Tuesday.
The communique which was signed by its National leader and Secretary-General, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Sola Ebiseni, respectively, denied sending any congratulatory message in the name of the group to any candidate.
According to the communique made available to Ikengaonline, “the results of the lawful votes at the election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that His Excellency Peter Gregory Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, won the said election and we thus support his decision challenging the contrary Declaration by the INEC.
“The General Meeting hereby denounce in strong terms and dissociate Afenifere from any congratulatory message in the name of the Organisation or howsoever to any candidate as illegally declared by the INEC.
“Afenifere reiterates that for equity, fairness, national cohesion and peaceful corporate existence, the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be person of its Southern part and specifically the South-East.
“We call on Nigerians to troop out en masse and participate fully in the Gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly elections slated for the 11th March 2023.
“That with particular reference to Lagos State, Afenifere confirms that the Governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is a person of Yoruba origin, whose great-grandparents are not only Yoruba but definitely one of the notable founding families of Lagos.
“We unequivocally endorse and urge the people of Lagos to vote for him.
Afenifere decried the deliberate non-compliance of INEC with it’s guidelines, which encouraged electoral brigandage at the polling units.
The violations by INEC include “destruction of ballot papers, snatching of ballot boxes, doctoring of figures and swapping of votes of candidates at the coalition centres through the amended and outlawed manual procedures which rendered the 25th February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections flawed in several respects as confirmed by local and international observers.
It called on INEC to ensure free and credible Gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly elections in accordance with the constitution, the extant Electoral Act and its mandatory Guidelines earlier mentioned.
“That in accordance with the hallowed Yoruba culture of civilised conduct, Afenifere assures all persons resident in Yorubaland, indigenes and non-indegenes, of protection in the conduct of their lawful duties and particularly the free exercise of the rights to vote for candidates of their choice in all elections and thus warn all threats mongers and merchants of violence to desist therefrom.
Afenifere called on President Muhammadu Buhari and all security agents to guaranty the safety of the people, free, fair and peaceful elections throughout Nigeria.
It also called on the international community to show special concerns in the on-going electioneering process in Nigeria in the interest of peace of the global community.
Afenifere vowed to resist any move to mess up Nigeria’s democracy.
