The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been accused of violating the Electoral Act by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, which they claim has a negative impact on the credibility of the recently held presidential and National Assembly elections.
As a political party and a significant participant in Nigeria’s democratic process, it is our opinion that provisions of the Electoral Act (2022 As Amended) in Sections 60 (5) and 148, which give INEC the authority to establish guidelines for the conduct of the elections, were grossly violated. This accusation was made by the party’s chairman, Isaac Mffo, during a press conference on the results of the elections.
“The PDP in Benue State rejects the outcome of both the presidential and National Assembly elections held in certain local government areas of the state on 25th February, 2023, for the reason of the breaches of law cited above.
“The party had shortly after the said elections issued a statement to the effect that it had mandated its legal department to study reports received from its agents who had been deployed to the over 5000 polling units across the state.
“After due consideration of the findings by the legal department, it is the position of our great party, the PDP, that the process of conducting both the presidential and National Assembly elections in Benue State did not conform with the standards stipulated in the enabling laws.
“In this regard, we consider it a matter of grave concern that Clauses 38 and 93 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Election, 2022, which make mandatory the transmission of election results electronically from the polling units to the INEC Server were serially flouted.”
