‘We have no allegiance to any party’ — INEC addresses Atiku-led protesters

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will “redress” the “grievances” of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding the presidential election outcome.

Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner for information, spoke on Monday while addressing members of the PDP who protested at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

TheCable had reported how the protesters led by Atiku Abubakar, the PDP standard bearer, marched to INEC’s office to protest the result of the election won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The protesters, who were dressed in black, started their demonstration from Legacy House, causing heavy traffic congestion around the Maitama axis.

Okoye said the protest letter received from the PDP will be transmitted to Mahmood Yakubu, INEC national chairman, adding that the “grievances” will be addressed.

“I have received this particular protest letter on behalf of the chairman of INEC and I promise you that this letter will be transmitted to him,” he said.

“If there are remedial issues to be dealt with, we are going to deal with those remedial issues.

“But I want to assure you that this commission is a listening commission. This commission is a public trust and this commission belongs to the Nigerian people.

“This commission does not have any allegiance to any political party. We don’t have allegiance to any political party. We don’t have any allegiance to any candidate. Our allegiance is to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I want to thank all of you for the peaceful way this protest has been conducted.

“The commission belongs to the Nigerian people and whatever grievances there are, we will look into all those grievances. If there are grievances that can be redressed, we will redress those grievances but I want to plead that all of us should continue to be peaceful and all of us should continue to respect the integrity of the commission and also the integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I am going to go and hand over the protest letter to the chairman of the commission and I want to assure you that the commission will meet over this letter, look into it and address some of the issues.”

While presenting the protest letter, Ayu maintained that INEC must cancel the election and conduct a fresh one “that will be respected not only by Nigerians but by the whole international community”.