The Presidential Candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has rejected the results of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, describing it as the last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development.
In a statement issued by Moghalu in Abuja, he lamented that the operational failures of INEC in the conduct of the elections, the massive vote-buying and vote-rigging through various methods as well as violence in several locations in the country had left the credibility of the election open to question. Adding that he trusts and believes that the situation will change by 2023.
He accused the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of being complicit in the malpractices.
He said, “The number of votes tallied for my candidacy by the INEC did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of that candidacy. These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression
of our voters.”
“It appears, however, that the strong determination of many of our citizens to reject the APC at the ballot box far outweighed the desire for real change in our polity and governance in 2019. So, although we did not win this election in terms of overall numbers of votes, the presidential election result is an indication of where our society is at present.”
Moghalu expressed sadness over the loss of lives due to violence on election day and offered his condolences to families that lost their loved ones and prayed for speedy recovery for those injured.
He advised INEC on the need to reform the systems of registration, voting and collation of votes by making the processes more transparent through better use of technology.
According to him, “As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced. We also must stiffen punishment and enforce accountability for electoral offenses. Nigerians in Diaspora have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year. Our fellow citizens living abroad must be able to vote overseas as from 2023. Immediate action to achieve this goal is required once the present elections are over.”
He urged President Buhari to ensure inclusive and competent government that can heal the country of poverty.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, who INEC announced as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, owes Nigerians an inclusive, competent government that can heal our land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty. This calls for a very different approach from recycling poverty through the APC government’s unsustainable populist initiatives that fail to create jobs or improve actual economic productivity and living
standards.”
“A new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management that goes beyond mere economic growth statistics to real economic development and structural transformation remains an urgent priority for our country,” Moghalu added
