Political commentator and Lawyer, Dele Farotimi, has said that what happened on February 25 was not an election even if his preferred candidate, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, wins.
Disclosing this during an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Farotimi explained that nothing legitimate can come out of the fraudulent election. Therefore, even if Peter Obi wins, he will never consider the election to be valid.
He stated that anyone who emerges will be an illegitimate leader because of the violent attacks on voters in some polling units, the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results from polling units to its online portal, as well as the alleged changing of polling unit results to favor the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
On social media, many Nigerians have alleged that some electoral officers in collaboration with INEC and the ruling party, have changed result figures on the polling unit result sheets, to ensure the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, does not win.
INEC’s capability in question: Dele Farotimi said that the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu is not capable of running a free and fair election in the country because of the questionable electoral process that occurred on February 25.
Many Nigerians have taken to social media to express their disappointment over several challenges that marred the elections. Some of the challenges include; violent attacks, unavailability of electoral materials, failure to upload election results, and many other issues.
The #EndSARS angle: According to Dele Farotimi, politicians keep referring to the #EndSARS protests as if it has a link to the current opposition to the elections which have been marred by INEC’s inefficiencies and violence. He said that the #EndSARS protests of 2020 were due to police brutality and did not come with an end in sight and is different from the widespread dissatisfaction of Nigerians towards the results being announced.
He stated the fact that the protesters did not engage in violent attacks but bore the brunt of such attacks. He said:
The Lagos state government had to pay N100 million in two tranches of N50 million cash compensation to the families of those who lost lives and limbs at the Lekki tollgate shooting.
When they want to suppress the voice of the people, they use the blackmail of #EndSars which should be a thing of shame to the Nigerian government because it murdered its citizens in cold blood.”
Referencing the 2023 elections on February 25, Farotimi said:
- “People went to the polls in record numbers, I saw the fictitious numbers they are raising in Lagos, talking about the Labour Party winning in Lagos, thinking they can play some silly blackmail game. We beat the landlord of Bourdillon, black and blue. We trooped out in our numbers; rain fell on people. Some people stood for votes to be counted till 1 am, brought in generators for power supply, and now somebody is telling me that all of that does not count.”
What you should know: Results announced so far from INEC show the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu in the lead. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party, and other parties staged a walkout from the National Collation Center in Abuja on Monday, February 27, after expressing displeasure over the irregularities that have emerged across several states in Nigeria because of the failure of INEC to upload results on its online portal.
I agree with Mr. Farotimi. The irregularities were so unbelievably brazen and deep that many Nigerians seem to have been dazed by it all.