Official spokesman of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has warned Nigerians against believing the content of a video circulating on the internet in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) purportedly said before the general election that it would transmit election results electronically.
Keyamo issued the disclaimer in a series of tweets via his verified Twitter handle on Thursday.
He accused the opposition of fabricating the video to score cheap political points, urging Nigerians not to fall for the plot.
The senior lawyer said that there was no provision for electronic transmission of result in the Electoral Act nor in INEC’s Guidelines.
Keyamo wrote: “Without referring to any particular pending Election Petition, there’s a need to generally guide Nigerians not to gullibly fall for the fantasy created by any video circulating where INEC official(s) spoke of INEC’s plan to electronically transmit results before the elections.
Read Also: Why Buhari is embarking on 10-day visit to UK
“The video(s) of some INEC official(s) expressing intention to electronically transmit results are only circulated for entertainment. That procedure is neither contained in the Electoral Act nor in INEC’s Guidelines. Courts are only guided by these documents and not such videos.
“Also, what you plan to do may be different from what you ACTUALLY DID. Assuming INEC planned to transmit electronically, the moment it said after the election that it did not do so, the matter ends there especially as the Electoral Act & the Guidelines do not allow it to do so.
“In anticipation of the electronic transmission, some crooks concocted fictitious results and perhaps in connivance with certain INEC insiders (or by hacking) tried to upload those results into the server. The fact that electronic transmission didn’t happen destroyed their plan.
“The irony is that the real cheats are the ones struggling to create a narrative that they were cheated; the real crooks are the ones struggling to convince everyone that the system is crooked; those who actually planned to steal the people’s mandate are the ones crying foul.
“The noise about electronic transmission of INEC results is akin to a student who wants to cheat in an exam & enters the hall with prepared answers, not noticing that the set questions are not exactly framed as expected. So, when he’s later told he failed, he says it’s IMPOSSIBLE!”