From Orubebe To Dino Melaye, PDP’s Way Of Protesting Against Injustice That They First Championed And Introduced
The Oasis Reporters
February 27, 2023
By Greg Abolo
@gregabolo
@Theoasisreport1
It was quite a spectacle at the National Collation Centre for the results of the 2023 presidential election when Senator Dino Melaye, a representative of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) reacted strongly against, because to him, what he saw was unusual.
Results that ought to have been uploaded from the Ward voting and Collation centres nationwide to ensure transparency through the use of the BVAS machines for anyone logging into the Independent National Electoral Center, INEC to view and analyse.
Instead of following what the law stipulated about the use of electronic transfer of election results, INEC deliberately did something else. It was done manually, so political parties officials and the electoral commission officials had to gather in Abuja to release the election results.
During the elections in 2015, Mr. Orubebe representing the PDP and then President Goodluck Jonathan protested vehemently and he was seen on live TV trying to disrupt the process because of certain anomalies that he had noticed.
It took President Jonathan’s phone call urging Orubebe to let peace reign for calm to be restored.
Eight years after the spectacle, Dino Melaye of the same People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is reenacting the same drama of leading a protest over certain anomalies and he was seen on national television, boycotting the process.
Many representatives of political parties followed Dino Melaye’s lead and walked out of the National Collation Centre in Abuja.
The belief is strong that when election results are not transmitted live, real-time and online, but rather done manually, room exists for the results to be tampered with and manipulated. Thus, rigging is usually suspected to have been perpetrated.
Nigeria spent a colossal amount of money to ensure a real-time release of election results. So why did INEC bypass what the law said in order to do otherwise?
That is the question that Dino Melaye’s protest and boycott is raising.
