BMO cautions PDP, LP against incitement to violence

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has cautioned the opposition parties against causing public disorder through street protests against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over their electoral loss.

The group said in a statement that it would be ideal for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) to put their case together and head for the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, rather than heating up the polity.

In the statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO noted that “PDP and Labour Party which lost out to the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had since the announcement of the outcome of the Feb. 25 election been holding press conferences where they described the process as anything but free and credible.

“They had also taken early steps to get the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to grant them access to materials used for the election which was the right thing to do.

“But what we find strange is that rather than allow the court process to take its course, the main opposition party opted to stage a street protest to INEC headquarters in Abuja where they momentarily blocked the gates.

“We see that act and the resultant name calling directed at the leadership of the electoral body as unnecessary and a resort to self-help especially as they are already in court.

“We know that LP supporters have also been mobilizing for a similar protest but just like what PDP did in Abuja, it is unnecessary when they could have used their time to put their evidence together now that results have been uploaded on the INEC portal.

“The inability to upload the results was the basis of the complaints by PDP and LP but since the upload, there have been absolute silence. No one has come out to say what was uploaded at any polling unit is different from the result sheet their agents turned in.

“Rather, what we have seen in the public space are mutilated result sheets where numbers are altered almost in a criminal manner in favour of one of the opposition parties in its stronghold.

“Cross checking the results should be the main focus of the opposition parties, especially as they could now compare results posted on the portal with result sheets their party agents signed and collected at over 176,000 polling units across the country,” the group added.

BMO insisted that the innovation introduced by INEC with the backing of President Muhammadu Buhari went a long way in making it difficult for unscrupulous politicians to manipulate the process.

“For us, the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System BVAS and the IREV are two innovations that have brought some credibility to the electoral system and this is obvious from the shock results that came in from across the country in the National Assembly election.

“Like many Nigerians, we were surprised to see several governors and former governors lose out in their bid for the Senate and we are bold to say that this is not something that happened in past elections.

“We also saw many key politicians unable to win their power bases yet a process that made this happen is one that is being demonized by losing parties.

“It is also unthinkable that a party that is barely ten months old could gain so much ground under the previous system, but a former Vice President who clearly knows better is bold and hypocritical enough to describe the process that made that happen as the worst since 1999”.

The group urged aggrieved parties and their supporters to guard against actions and utterances that are likely to incite the masses against the electoral body and, even the judiciary.