Convener and chairman of the Big Tent Coalition of Political Parties (BTCPP), a conglomerate of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) for Obi/Datti 2023 presidency, Prof Pat Utomi, on behalf of the group, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately review all the ballot cast during the Saturday, February 25 presidential election in at least 12 states across Nigeria.
Utomi, who listed some of the states to include Rivers, Plateau, Benue, Lagos, Bayelsa, Bauchi, and Nasarawa among others, noted that if the move fails to bring justice, then a court process would be sought to reverse the rigging and pronounce the true winner. He further noted that where reversing the rigging and pronouncing the true winner becomes difficult for the system, the group was calling for outright cancellation of the election, and tasking the electoral body to ensure that the enthusiasm which Nigerians exhibited during the February 25 presidential election was allowed to flow through to March 11, with assurance of free, fair and transparent elections.
Making the call at a press conference in Lagos on Friday, Utomi commended Nigerians for their resolve and determination to troop out enmasse to exercise their franchise; a development he said sent a clear signal to the world that Nigerians were tired of the system that seek to push them into serfdom and desired a new order.
He stated that just nine months after he welcomed Mr. Peter Obi into a movement of the Third Force, which metamorphosed into the Labour Party, there was panic in the traditional political class.
The party, according to him, was built with grinding effort of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the new Fabian society of the concerned professionals as well as a potpourri of CSOs. “It was built on hope, deep concerns for the dignity of all Nigerians, a special care for women, young people and a desire for inclusion, especially of the not so enabled,” he added.
Utomi equally noted that within six months, the movement unleashed by the Obi candidacy which was first laughed at as four men tweeting in a room, had started generating panic in the traditional class; a development he attributed to young people, who felt tired of being misgoverned, mal-governed and subjected to abuses of all kinds from public authority. “They wanted their PVCs to make the point that needed to be made and our country experienced a surge in new voter registration. The pensioners and middle class followed the path created by the youth in this country, whose median age is 18.2 years; and they are vast majority of the population,” he said.
He stressed that despite what has happened to the result of their effort, Nigeria would not be the same again because of the faith shown by ‘Obidients,’ who were of different ethnic, religious and economic class configurations. “They simply believed a new Nigeria was possible. This is victory, and for me, a personal triumph. My life’s work evidently is approaching its apogee and I am thankful to God for that,” he said.
He told Nigerians that the only way to concretise the gains recorded at the presidential election was for them not to get tired or distracted as those who had reduced Nigeria to a criminal enterprise would want, but to massively troop out at the election of March 11 to vote for Labour Party for governorship and houses of assembly elections.
He condemned the activities of some state governors who brazenly interfered with the voting process during the February 25 presidential election, security agents and INEC officials. He called on INEC “to provide us guaranties of BVAS, what system they will use on March 11 and the general integrity of elections in Nigeria. But before that we want to urge INEC to show good faith and not wipe their server of the activities of February 25 in the excuse of having it ready for March 11. We also want to request that they administratively begin a review of the vote in ten states with a procedure we shall produce that can bring sunlight into February 25. All we seek is sunlight. We accuse none and come with malice towards none but are assured that our children will have better tomorrow if we ensure that sunlight and transparency define our electoral ways.”
He accused the electoral body of lacking accountability, transparency and the spirit of democracy, insisting that electoral commission must, like Caesar’s wife, be ever beyond reproach.
Stating the party’s determination to test the credibility of the election in the court, he said: “This is not the usual foul cry that comes with sore losers in Nigerian elections. All we want is the truth made bold by sunshine. Once that shows the truth, I will be first to celebrate the winner, whoever they may be and call in for congratulations. To remove light is to keep Nigerians in traumatized mental health situation where most of them are right now. We pray with all compatriots to cheer up and act rather than suppress emotions, and become sick from such. Victory comes to those who seek God’s face and I am confident it is coming. We do not desire to be triumphalist but to triumph in truth. Man has be given this by God in due season and that season is now,” he said.
He lamented that it has become a pattern for certain politicians to use tugs to visit terror on the people, prevent them from voting, alter their votes and often maim them, without any consequence. “This is why the pattern resurfaces every four years. We insist that since our justice system seems to fail us, supranational institutions need to kick in,” he said.
Utomi assured Nigerians that he and his group would forward the list of Governors, other elected officials and their henchmen involved in electoral practice to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and demand their prosecution with strong sentence or conviction.
“We also charge the system to hold accountable security people on whose watch violence and rigging have been allowed. We invite evidence which is plentiful against these men and women for consequences beginning with ostracisation to trials, naming and shaming,” he added.
He called on all the supporters of the LP to begin healing by making March 11 elections different from February 25 elections. “If INEC cannot assure that, its leadership must step down and move aside. We seek the same law enforcement agencies. Self-preservation is the first law of nature. If the leviathan cannot preserve life and property, if the state of nature beckons, then people will prefer to defend themselves. I believe in the biblical injunction of turning the other cheek if you are slapped, but if the one who slapped is a sadist who continues to enjoy striking the other cheek, the nuclear deterrence thesis of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) may become the path to peace,” he submitted.
