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The Action Congress (AC) has expressed shock and disbelief at the length to which INEC went to attack the EU Election Observer Mission over its (EU) final report on the general elections held last April, wondering what gave a discredited electoral body the temerity to engage in such grandstanding.
The Action Congress (AC) has expressed shock and disbelief at the length to which INEC went to attack the EU Election Observer Mission over its (EU) final report on the general elections held last April, wondering what gave a discredited electoral body the temerity to engage in such grandstanding.
In a statement issued in Abuja Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was particularly astonished at INEC's decision to waste public funds by taking full-page newspaper advertorials just to abuse neutral election observers.
'We hope INEC's Chairman Maurice Iwu, who has shown incredible propensity for uncouthness and shamelessness, will be surcharged for such a waste," it said.
AC said INEC's strategy, to ignore the message and go after the messenger - even when the electoral body collected huge sums of money in electoral assistance funds from the same messenger - has backfired because Nigerians were the first to reject the elections, widely regarded as the worst in the history of Nigeria.
According to the party, 'While we don't hold brief for the EU election observers, we believe it is necessary to debunk some insinuations, lies and innuendoes contained in INEC's advert, lest the world begin to see all Nigerians in the mould of Iwu and his lead attack dog, Philip Umeadi Jr.
'INEC wants Nigerians to disregard the EU observer mission report because of the disclaimer on the front page that it has not been adopted by the EU Commission.
But Umeadi, who signed the advert, knows as a lawyer that a disclaimer in law does not mean the content of the message is false. In this case, the mission is simply asserting its independence, rather than discrediting its own report as INEC wants Nigerians to believe. It is therefore fraudulent for Umeadi to try to confuse Nigerians that because of the disclaimer, the election observer mission's report is false.
'INEC claims the report offends the integrity and sensitivity of Nigeria. We disagree. Those whose sensitivity and integrity are offended are those who rigged the polls, those who benefited from it and those who are perpetually feeling guilty for exposing Nigeria to ridicule by bungling a critical election.
'We hope INEC will stop offending the sensibilities of Nigerians, whom it robbed of their votes, by following the footsteps of the chief beneficiary of the rigging, President Umaru Yar'dua, who has himself accepted the elections were far from free and fair."
'If today the whole world holds the federal government in our great country in total contempt, it is because of the sham elections organized by Iwu, at the behest of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the renowned apostle of ‘do-or-die' politics. Yet, this pseudo-intellectual called Iwu has failed to show any remorse for his misdeed. This calls for a sober reflection, and not grandstanding by a totally compromised and discredited Electoral body."