From 11 AM to about noon, on Thursday, March 9, 2023, Nigerians in the United Kingdom gathered to protest the #NigerianElections2023 in front of the Nigerian High Commission, on Northumberland Avenue, London, SW1.
Led by author and former Presidential spokesman, Reno Omokri, the crowd expressed anger and disappointment at the conduct of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking at the event, Mr. Omokri noted that from the INEC’s IREV portal, over voting was observed in almost 14,000 polling units, which affected 4.3 million votes, and manual accreditation was carried out in these and other polling units, in contravention of Sector 47 (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act.
He said that by virtue of those portions of the Act, elections in those areas ought to have been cancelled and held on a latter date.
Calling for a cancellation of the election for a more credible one, Mr. Omokri said that “INEC was obviously not ready, and yet went on with the election with blind spots that allowed the ruling party to use underhand practices to rig the election.”
He continued saying that “the INEC postponed the gubernatorial election because they were ill prepared, which was what they ought to have done with the Presidential election if they had no hidden agenda.”
Addressing the group of protestors further, Pastor Omokri said the protest was not about any political party but a united course to demand free and fair election from INEC for all Nigerians.
According to Omokri, Nigeria as the giant of Africa is supposed to lead other smaller African countries with credible polls. Sadly however, it is the smaller African countries that are conducting credible polls while the polls in Nigeria are always fraught with many issues such as rigging, violence, vote-buying, and emergence of unpopular candidates as the winner of the election against the will of the people.
He said, “African countries that are smaller vote and then their votes go well. And then we have our own vote and then we have all of these issues. Not one single country or one single institution outside Nigeria has said that those polls were good.”
“Chatham House few days ago said the polls did not meet the required standards. The American Ambassador said this polls did not meet the expectations of Nigerians. “
“So, what we are saying here today is that we want credible polls.”
“We are not here for PDP. I’m a member of PDP. I support PDP but we are not here for PDP at all.”
“Some of you, you’re Obidients. …we are united!We are not united for PDP; we are not united for Labour. We are united for Nigeria.”
Among the protestors led by Omokri were many Obidients who joined him in a peaceful protest against the INEC over the February 25th, 2023 presidential election in the country.
Obidients are loyalists of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the just concluded presidential election in Nigeria.
The protestors carried many placards bearing different inscriptions such as: “All we are saying, give us free votes,” “Election without BIVAS is digital rigging,” and “Results without transmission is election rigging.”
Others read, “INEC gave us selection, not election,” “Sunnat it is too soon to congratulate,” and “INEC Press Neck,” among other inscriptions.
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