By: Ifeanyi Izeze<\/p>\n
It all started when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)on
\nFebruary 27, 2019, declared that President Mohammadu Buhari of the
\nAllProgressives Congress (APC) won the last presidential election with
\n15,191, 847votes to beat Atiku Abubakar\u00a0 of thePeople\u2019s Democratic Party
\n(PDP) who polled 11, 262, 978 votes.<\/p>\n
Both Atiku and the PDP in their 139-page petition to the Tribunal
\ntochallenge Buhari\u2019s declared victory claimed that \u201cfrom the data in the
\n1strespondent\u2019s (INEC\u2019s) server\u2026the true, actual and correct results from
\nstate tostate computation\u201d showed that Atiku polled a total of 18,356,732
\nvotes todefeat Buhari who scored 16, 741, 430 votes.<\/p>\n
In a swift response to the PDP claims, Festus Keyamo, the APCspokesperson
\nsaid \u201cThe law or the Electoral Act does not allow you to bring(transmit)
\nresults by server. No room for electronic transmission at all. Allresults
\nwere collated and transmitted manually.\u201d<\/p>\n
This same APCand its mouthpiece, Keyamo in less than 24 hours made a
\ncomplete u-turn andinstead turned around to accuse Atiku and PDP of
\nillegal access through hacking\u00a0to the INEC backend database server. Trueto
\nthe threat of bringing in the security agencies, a petition was submitted
\ntothe Nigerian Police and the DSS by the APC asking for the outright
\narrest ofunspecified PDP leaders.<\/p>\n
Now, does itoccur to APC that their response thus far, obviously gives the
\nimpression of apanicky bunch? If the result shown by PDP is fake, why
\nborder as you areconvinced INEC will not post fake election results on its
\nbackend database.<\/p>\n
The real issueis not having direct electronic access to INEC’s server. You
\ncan know whatshould be in there, if you know what was fed in there. Don\u2019t
\nforget also thatelection results are not secret documents; it is in the
\nhands of party agents. SupposingPDP and its leaders have the collated
\nresults State by State, that was fed intothe server? If the actual total
\ndiffers from what INEC announced, shouldanybody sit down and still argue
\nthat the electoral umpire does not have someserious questions to answer?<\/p>\n
Just see howthis Keyamo guy has been beating about the bush! He claimed
\nthat the PDP hackedINEC\u2019s server, and then in the other breath, he posited
\nthat the products ofthe hacking returned fake results! If the product of
\nthe hacking, as he claims,is fake, then why is Keyamo getting overly
\nworried and thrashing like fish outof water? You have already claimed that
\nthe product of the hacking will not beadmissible in court. So why not sit
\nback and watch how the court will handlethis.<\/p>\n
Okay, rememberthat products of hacking have materials that worked against
\nHillary Clinton andcould even result in indicting her in a court of law
\nshould interested partiestake her to court. Place that scenario
\nside-by-side with what is agitatingKeyamo\u2019s mind in this allegedly hacked
\nmaterials and you will see and understandwhy the APC\/Keyamo has become so
\nworried about this development.<\/p>\n
You may claimthat the means of obtaining information is \u2018illegal\u2019 but you
\ncannot justdiscard the information so gathered. So if you claim that the
\nPDP got what youmight call \u2018classified\u2019 information illegally, know that
\nsuch \u2018classified\u2019information, could contain information regarding the
\n\u2018illegality\u2019 the INEC andthe APC produced and dished to the Nigerian
\npeople. And, from the contents seenso far, it could be well concluded that
\nthe INEC and APC conspired (anillegality) to cheat the PDP of its merited
\nwin in that presidential election.And this is Keyamo\u2019s worry for sure!<\/p>\n
Nigerians areyet to hear INEC say its backend data server was breached.
\nSo, where is APCgetting their facts from or is the INEC computer server
\nlocated in Buhari\u2019s orKeyamo\u2019s bedroom or inside the Presidential Villa?
\nIs APC now responsible foroverseeing the INEC backend database server?<\/p>\n
Keyamo hasdeliberately been jumping the gun and this is very unbecoming of
\na senioradvocate of Nigeria. The Police or DSS cannot act on evidence
\nbefore the courtwithout being directed by the court. Keyamo is a SAN and
\nhe should have knownbetter.<\/p>\n
The serverresults were addressed to the Tribunal and not to APC or Buhari
\ncampaign group.He should allow the Tribunal handle the case without
\ninterference. Actually, heshould be arrested for contempt of court for
\ncommenting on a case and databefore the Tribunal. It is the responsibility
\nof the Tribunal to scrutinize thesubmitted data, and if need be as to its
\nsource and genuineness. Did the courtnot give the complainants permission
\nto examine everything used for theelection? So, why is Keyamo\/APC afraid?<\/p>\n
Keyamo should notwaste his time making ridiculous claims that expose his
\nignorance of systems\/datasecurity. It is easy to determine whether the
\npresidential election data on theINEC server were inputted by intruders or
\nwere inputted by INEC officials asreceived from the almost 120,000 polling
\nunits across Nigeria. Blaming PDP andAtiku is nothing but an outright
\nexpression of disabled mindsets.<\/p>\n
As said by awell \u2018learned\u2019 Nigerian, \u201cIt is even more appalling that
\nFestus Keyamo, aSenior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a member of Buhari\u2019s
\nlegal team, whoshould know better, would engage in this act of subjudice
\ndesigned to distort facts already known to Nigerians,that results
\nannounced does not tally with the actual cast at the presidentialpoll.<\/p>\n
It should occurto Keyamo that the claims by his APC are\u00a0an attempt
\nat\u00a0blackmailingthe Tribunal by engaging in clear acts ofsubjudice.<\/p>\n
Now, for election APC claimed they won, they ought to have filed
\ntheirdefence at the Tribunal and be eager to defend it but up till now,
\nthat has notbeen done. Why are they more concerned with the hacking of
\nINEC server andsource (s) of figures pbeing presented by the opposition
\nrather than going tothe tribunal to submit and defend their evidence of
\nwinning the election?<\/p>\n
Is APC the bodythat conducted the election or were they the ones that
\nannounced the results?It should be INEC to raise such concerns because
\nthey alone know how secretiveor open they made available the
\ninformation.\u00a0They are to defend the figures which they announced and how
\nthey got it.All we have been hearing had been INEC servers not APC
\nservers, so shouldn\u2019t theINEC be the one reporting PDP if the agency
\nsuspects any breach of its datasecurity?<\/p>\n
Wide and far,we\u2019ve never seen a government in Nigeria that is lacking
\nintelligence andcoherence like this one. These people don\u2019t know that
\nAtiku\/PDP claiming tohave access to contents similar to server details
\nmust not mean they hackedinto it. The materials fed into the INEC server,
\ndo they exist anywhere? Yesthey do in hard copies! The easiest claim by
\nthe PDP is simply to present eitherthe hard copies of the materials and\/or
\nask INEC to explain to the Tribunal howit got the figures of the election
\nresults it announced and the ones fed into itsbackend database.\u00a0 At that
\nmoment, thenaivety of Keyamo and his APC will be blown open for ridicule.
\nGod bless Nigeria!!<\/p>\n