The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the resignation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, accusing him of violating the Electoral Act and manipulating the February 25 presidential election results. At a press conference in Abuja on Friday, the PDP called for the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Directorate of State Services to launch immediate investigations into INEC’s alleged electoral violations, with the aim of prosecuting Yakubu and other officials for electoral offences.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the PDP also wants the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate claims that senior INEC officials were financially compromised to influence the election. “The PDP demands that Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu step down immediately, having abused the confidence of millions of Nigerians and the international community for a free, fair, and credible election,” Ologunagba declared. He added that Yakubu’s removal would be the first step toward sanitising the commission and restoring public confidence as the nation prepares for the rescheduled March 18, 2023 governorship and state‑assembly elections.
Ologunagba criticised INEC’s recent scheme to reconfigure BVAS devices, which he said would deny Nigerians and political parties—particularly the PDP and its candidate—access to information needed for the Presidential Election Tribunal. He alleged that the commission’s boss deliberately sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results from polling units in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing pictorial and video evidence of compromised result sheets across the country. The PDP questioned why the INEC chairman “rushed” to announce allegedly manipulated results that were not transmitted directly from polling units to INEC’s server, ignoring objections raised during collation and violating Sections 64(4)(a)‑(b), 64(6)(a)‑(d) and 65(1)(c) of the 2022 Electoral Act.
According to the PDP, those sections require the INEC chairman, as Chief Returning Officer, to announce only results transmitted directly from polling units and to review any disputed or objectionable collated results. By breaching these provisions and INEC’s own regulations, Yakubu is culpable of serious electoral offences and has betrayed the trust Nigerians placed in him and the commission. The party warned that Yakubu’s continued tenure could enable the suppression, tampering, and destruction of critical evidence needed to expose the infractions at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
The PDP noted reports from various international bodies disapproving of INEC’s leadership for undermining democracy during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections. While urging Nigerians to remain calm yet vigilant, the party called on the international community to impose sanctions, including travel restrictions, on the INEC chairman and other senior officials for compromising Nigeria’s democracy.
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