Avoid a repeat of June 12 - Keyamo begs judiciary as results dispute festers

Pulse reports that millions of Nigerians went to their various polling units across the country on Saturday, February 25, 2023, to cast their votes in the presidential and national assembly elections.

However, while results have been announced in many of the legislative elections, collation of results at the presidential level was still dragging due to the inability of the National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officials to wrap up counting as fast as expected.

This development has raised suspicion that the results are being tampered with in some states, a view that was also amplified by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party during their separate press conferences on Monday.

The PDP agent at the INEC collation centre in Abuja, Dino Melaye, created a scene when he disrupted the collation process while expressing his dissatisfaction over the results from Ekiti State.

Reacting to the developments, the APC-PCC held a press conference on Monday, February 27, 2023, where it accused the two opposition parties of planning to reenact the situation that happened in 1993 presidential election.

Recall that the 1993 election was put on hold and subsequently annulled after the "infamous" Justice Bassey Ikpeme issued a court order instructing the then electoral umpire to suspend results announcement after the late Moshood Kolawole Abiola (MKO) had taken an unassailable lead.

Appealing to the judiciary, Keyamo said a repeat of such situation was being planned as, according to him, the PDP and Labour Party have contracted some senior lawyers in the country to help them secure a court order to stop INEC from proceeding with results announcement.

Keyamo's words: "We have credible information that PDP and Labour Party are presently shopping for a court order to stop the announcement of the results like June 12, We have credible information from my colleagues at the bar, they have consulted some of my colleagues at the inner bar, Senior Advocates like me who they told to go and prepare court papers and proceed to court.

"I want to appeal to the judiciary to remember the infamous justice Ikpeme of June 12, we should not have a replay of the situation of justice Ikpeme and what happened to her thereafter. That's my appeal to the judiciary, which is still my primary constituency, they should not scuttle democracy."