CDD calls on political actors to abide by electoral laws
Written by Joey Shekwonuzhibo on April 19, 2023
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, is saying that he has lived all his life in the most law-abiding manner, and he will never knowingly break any law.
His comment comes amid his reported detention at London’s Heathrow Airport by UK immigration early April.
The Labour Party had in a statement last Wednesday said the former Anambra State governor was detained and questioned for a duplication offense which suggested that someone has been impersonating him in London.
However, in a Twitter post Obi says even though humans are bound to make mistakes, he will never knowingly break any law, adding that he is not afraid of the lies and propaganda against my person.
In another development, the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, is calling on political actors as well as electoral officials and security agents to operate within the ambit of the law and avoid any situation that can lead to chaos or threaten peace.
This call was contained in a statement signed by its Director, Idayat Hassan, who advised aggrieved parties to allow INEC to implement the right means of collation before approaching any court.
While expressing shock at the outcome of the Adamawa rerun governorship poll, Hassan points that political actors had succeeded in involving the judiciary in their machinations.
The Director also reiterated the group’s stance in allowing the process as spelt out in the law to be followed in promptly declaring the winner of the governorship election.
As a consequence of the Adamawa controversy, all National Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Monday had a closed-door meeting at the commission’s national headquarters in Abuja over Adamawa supplementary governorship election.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye says the Commission will release a statement on the meeting shortly.
The meeting is coming barely 24 hours after the electoral umpire directed its Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, to stay away from all activities of the electoral umpire and the election in the state.
The INEC REC had on Sunday stirred controversy when at about 9am he announced Aisha Binani of the APC as winner of Saturday’s supplementary election over the incumbent, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP.
INEC had immediately summoned Ari to Abuja and declared his announcement an invalid declaration and a usurpation of the powers of the collation and returning officer.
