By Udora Orizu in Abuja
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has rejected the results of last Saturday’s presidential election currently being collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The opposition parties described the exercise as pyrrhic victory and robbery of a nation.
In a statement by its National spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere, CUPP stated that there were evidence nationwide, adding that Nigerians are no longer in doubt that the 2019 general elections was “a complete departure from the electoral gains made in 2015″.
The coalition described the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, as the worst to preside over the electoral umpire since 1999 for his alleged unbridled avarice and pursuit of petty religious, ethnic and primordial sentiments.
It further alleged that Mahmood fully collaborated with the federal government “to rob the people of their will while looking the international community straight in the eyes and lying to them”.
The CUPP stressed that the returns made by Prof. Yakubu are not in tandem with the wishes of Nigerians, adding: “The country did not erupt in wild jubilations, rather citizens are seen gathering in small clusters discussing in low tunes knowing that Nigeria is now perfectly on the path to disintegration and absence of growth and development.
“We hereby, on behalf of the people of Nigeria reject the results of the elections and the purported victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC and also declare the purported mandate which the president lays claim to as a stolen and illegitimate and which ought to be returned to the rightful owner.”
The opposition parties lamented that in the glare of the whole world, the government killed its own citizens, cancelled results particularly in areas of strength of the opposition, inflated scores recorded particularly in areas of strength of the president, burnt INEC offices in areas where it was not sure of victory, raided opposition leaders’ homes and officers, compromised INEC and security officials.
According to CUPP, despite all these, the INEC chairman allegedly “crowned them with victory dripping with blood of innocent citizens who were mauled down by bullets of enemies of democracy because of the desperation of a non-performing president to hold on to power”.
CUPP called on the international bodies to place visa ban on the INEC chairman and all members of his immediate family, the heads of Nigeria’s security agencies, All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership, compromised INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners and other top government functionaries it described as having actively participated in robbing the country of its legitimate choice of democratic leadership.
