Opposition parties allege plot to tamper with results from Nigeria’s capital territory

Elections over, squabbles over results appear to be taking centre stage.

On Sunday, opposition parties under the aegis of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), and led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), raised concerns over alleged plots to tamper with results from Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which it claims are in favour of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The grouped alleged that incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari had lost the Saturday presidential poll in the FCT, and that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), were working to manipulate the results.

In a statement made available to journalists and credited to its spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, CUPP said as follows:

“We have obtained credible intelligence from insiders that the FCT INEC Staff and the REC have caved in to pressure from security agencies and APC chieftains working on the instructions of President Buhari to cancel some area councils’ presidential election results that were won overwhelmingly by the opposition candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and declare the FCT election inconclusive to enable the President and the APC to fully prepare with security agencies to write results in those areas during a rerun.

Read also: PDP recruiting thugs to attack collation centres, APC alleges

“President Buhari and his team, after the FCT results were tabulated, realised that not only did Atiku defeat him in the FCT but that he could not score 25 percent of the vote cast requirement hence the plan to cancel results from the remote areas of Bwari, Abaji etc to help declare FCT inconclusive.

“The world monitored the election in Abuja and knows that Atiku led Buhari with wide margin despite all the rampage visited on voters in the remote areas of the FCT.

Since the conduct of February 23 general polls, various political interests have continued to bandy results which the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has warned should be disregarded until official pronouncements from the Commission were made.

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