The Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Abia State chapter, Apostle Emmanuel Agonmuo, has expressed disappointment over the outcome of the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections, saying the exercise was highly flawed.
Apostle Agonmuo who spoke with a journalist in Umuahia, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of dashing the hope and expectations of Nigerians particularly the youths who believed the assurances by the electoral umpire that the polls would be credible.
He wondered why INEC would fail to upload the poll results through the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, as it earlier promised, saying that the failure was deliberate, and amounted to changing the goalpost in the middle of the play.
The cleric alleged the delays in uploading the poll results, and the resort to manual collation gave room for manipulation.
He said that INEC had betrayed the trust and public confidence reposed in it, adding that the announcement of a winner of the contest when no contestants had actually emerged according to the New Electoral Act.
” INEC didn’t upload results on the server as it promised. We are not comfortable”.
The CAN boss, however, appealed for calm and advised against any act capable of causing a security breach.
” We urge our people to be calm. We are praying”.
Apostle Agonmuo, however, advised those who were rigged out of the presidential poll not to bother seeking redress in court but to live justice in the hands of God.
He said he had no confidence anymore in the Nigerian democracy following some precedents of bad judgment.
” Obi and Atiku should forget going to court. They should not go to waste their money because I don’t have faith in the Nigerian judiciary. If you don’t have big money you may not get justice in the Nigerian judiciary “.
Responding also, the traditional ruler of Abiriba’s ancient kingdom, HRM Eze Kalu Kalu Ogbu (Enachioken Abiriba), dismissed the conduct of INEC as a charade.
The monarch said that the result announced by INEC could not pass any moral test as it lacked transparency.
” Nobody will accept that result because it’s no result. They just sat and wrote that thing they call result.
“Somebody thinks he can do everything and get away with it but in this one, it’s very unfortunate, he won’t get away with it.
” I believe that at the end of the day, truth will be told and the real winner of the presidential.
On whether or not the judiciary still commands public confidence, the monarch who is also a lawyer, noted that the judiciary remained the last hope of the common man.
He said that the judiciary had delivered some highly celebrated judgments even against itself.
