By Austin Ogwuda
Renowned Social critic, founder and pioneer Chief Executive Officer CEO of Stanbic Bank, Atedo Peterside (CON) said the recent Judgment delivered by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has virtually erased whatever concerns the Electoral Act 2022 were supposed to address, especially the INEC Election Result Viewer (IReV).
He is therefore, without prejudice irrespective of the outcome of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi case at the Supreme Court, seeks to know the Supreme Court’s decision on some of the pronouncements made by the Tribunal.
Peterside noted that he was very much concerned that the final arbiter, Supreme Court should give interpretation to some of the serious concerns raised by the Tribunal Judgment before people begin to consider taking to self help.
More worrisome, he said, are the coming off season governorship elections in Edo, Imo and Bayelsa States.
Voiciferous Peterside who is also the President and founder of Snap Foundation spoke when he appeared as a guest at the London studios of Arise Television in a program tagged ‘Prime Time’ anchored by a veteran media guru, Charles Aniagolu here in Nigeria, which was monitored by The Town Hall Media on Tuesday night.
His words:”I am particularly worried about pronouncements they (Presidential Tribunal) made, which appeared to have taken us back to square one.The Electoral Act was one of the legacies of President Buhari that was supposed to deliver an improved environment for us (Nigerians) to carry out elections, transparently.
It was meant to lower the burden of proof for those filing petitions and even to make information available to the whole world via INEC IReV. So anything that threatens all those gains, let the Supreme Court tell us which elements of the Electoral Act are valid, which ones are not or to be repealed.
“I am talking now like an Economist, we spent over N360 billion to create this new instrument, IReV, which was supposed to remove human doubt.
“The Osun was the last election before the Presidential. At 6pm on that Osun election through the INEC IReV we knew the result.
But for the Presidential they talked about glitches. Till now more than six months after up to today they (INEC) have not posted, unloaded all the polling units results.
“If you turn to some pages, you see access denied you turn to the next page, you see a complete blurred image. So, if we did get it right for Osun what stopped INEC from getting it right for the where it matters most, presidency .
Asked if he is confident that the Supreme Court will at the end of the day serve justice, Peterside remarked that beyond Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi seeking justice there, “my concern, I repeat is what it portends for our future elections because if we wipe away all the gains, let INEC or DSS or whoever tell us whom they want to announce as a winner of an election because it will make the burden of proof high for those who have been shortchanged or cheated by the system.
