A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has acknowledged that the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal’s (PEPT) decision was the result of a strategically managed procedure.
He predicted that electoral fraud would worsen during the 2019 elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa.
According to the party leader who requested anonymity and talked to Daily Sun, the judgement prevented the party from collapsing in an unfathomable way.
He explained that a negative ruling would have made the party’s already existing divisions even wider.
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He acknowledged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had fallen short of Nigerians’ expectations, but he asserted that it would have been disastrous for the APC had the Tribunal declined to ratify the commission’s decision because of the anger of the citizenry.
He continued by saying that the tribunal’s decision also significantly increases the likelihood that the APC will prevail in the elections in the states of Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa.
The leader said: “Yes, we still have the option of heading to the Supreme Court to remedy whatever judgment if it had gone against our candidate. But, it would have sent a wrong and negative signal that might further widen the cracks in our party.
“Struggling to manage one crisis after the other ever since we won the election, any judgment on the contrary would have amplified the tension in our party. We all know that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not live up to the expectations of many Nigerians but for the presidential tribunal to confirm the anger of Nigerians in refusing to endorse the result by the commission would have affected our party negatively.
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“You may not know what the favourable judgment did to our party ahead of the three off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states. It goes a long way to confirm that our chances of winning the states are still very bright. No matter the angle you look at it, many would interpret the judgment as an endorsement of rigging and a signal to the governors that election manipulation is still possible despite the much-touted deployment of technology.
“The tribunal has also endorsed that the much-acclaimed reliance on Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IreV) Portal are of no consequence and that it can be circumvented despite the huge amount of money spent on the technology and the promises the commission repeatedly made to Nigerians.
“Be sure that we are going to see worst cases of electoral fraud during the off-season governorship elections. Just watch out for the dimension the manipulations of the governorship elections will take because the tribunal verdict has emboldened them.
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“The verdict was a tactically manipulated legal exercise but since my party is the beneficiary I can only talk in secret for security reasons and fear of victimisation.”
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