Anti-Tinubu protesters charge US to uphold democracy, say 2023 election a crime against humanity
Some Nigerians in the United States have protested against the success of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress APC Senator Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
In the videos which surfaced on social media, the demonstrators could be seen displaying the Nigerian flags in front of the White House.
Some others could be seen holding the American flag as what could be described as a call for solidarity.
Some of the demonstrators were holding placards with different inscriptions on them such as — “Democracy under threat in Nigeria”, “Let Nigerian votes count”, and “Nigerians reject the election result”.
A man who revealed his identity as a lawyer and a polling unit officer in the February 25 presidential election said the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines were not properly made use of in the electoral process.
He said the low turnout of voters during the election was due to ethnic profiling, describing it as an injustice aimed at overpowering democracy and a crime against humanity.
“It was serious violence that I witnessed myself. They told people: You cannot vote because you look a certain way or you’re from a certain part of Nigeria. That is not what Nigeria is all about. That is now what democracy is all about. I can tell you now that its a crime against humanity and I think United States should never stamp on this. We Nigerians in the United States should never stamp on this,” the man could be heard saying.
“I was doing some work trying to convince regular people to vote for Labour Party in Badagry West and they were telling me our votes never counted in the past, why should it count now? And I told them No, INEC said they have BVAS, and with that same BVAS they would transmit results electronically. I was wrong.
“On February 25th, serving as a polling unit officer, I saw that the BVAS was never used. Yes, they filled out the forms and everything but no transmission was done. None. Not in the Badagry West where I served as a polling unit officer.”
He said presidential election results were never uploaded to the server and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still proceeded to announce a winner.
He further revealed that the president elect Tinubu did not meet constitutional requirements to be announced the winner of the election and therefore called on the US government to do the “right” thing and pitch its tent with Nigeria.
“Just like our vice-principal said, there is no president-elect. One of the most important things we have to realise is that the person who is elected president has to meet the constitutional requirements,” he said.
“We want the United States Congress to do the right thing — to make sure they stand with the majority of the Nigerian people and make sure that democracy actually prevails in Nigeria.”
The US chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has vowed to stage a counter-march in solidarity with Tinubu.
The Informant247 recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
According to INEC, Tinubu came victorious with 8.8 million votes.
The presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar came second with 6.9 million votes, while Peter Obi, had 6.1 million votes.
