Ovation Magazine publisher and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu has described the just-concluded president election as a waste of taxpayers’ money, adding that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is turning Nigeria into a one-party state.
Momodu, who is a media director for PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said the President Muhammadu Buhari’ government should have let Nigerians know that the APC is not ready to go and not have bothered itself to conduct an election.
“Last Saturday was another sad day for our country,” said Momodu, a Director of Strategic Communications of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show on Thursday.
The Ovation Magazine publisher said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to deliver on its promises, especially on the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) and an on-time transmission of results through its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“It was a day Nigerians were supposed to get it right. There were so much drama and melodrama and promises upon promises, BVAS will be a game-changer, but what we witnessed was a charade,” he stated.
The PDP chieftain described the February 25, 2023 presidential election as one of Nigeria’s worst elections since the First Republic.
Momodu said, “One of our worst elections took place in 1983. In 1993 we had our best elections, it was killed. Now in 2023, we were much worse than we were in 1983, a year you could called an analog era.
“So, with all the billions, if not trillions wasted on this election, we must as well as told Nigerians: APC is not ready to go; we don’t need an election. We are turning Nigeria to a one-party state.
“I’m sure in our usual docility, we would agree but to waste all that money, waste peoples’ time? I pity the young people the most; they came out, they had faith, they had hope in their country and they came out and they dashed that hope instead of renewed hope.
“So, for us, the election was a complete waste of resources.”
He said INEC results did not tally with what PDP agents filed from the polling units.
The electoral umpire about 4am on Wednesday declared APC’s Bola Tinubu as the President-elect.
The former Lagos State governor came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival — former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
Atiku, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.
By his victory, Buhari will hand over to his partyman, Tinubu after the expiration of his eight-year two-term on May 29, 2023.