The protest is billed to be held at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Security has been beefed up around Legacy House in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital territory, where members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party plan to protest on Monday.
Following the alleged irregularities that characterised the presidential and National Assembly elections, the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party and its national leadership will protest against the outcome of the polls in Abuja.
The protest is billed to be held at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Apart from governors, members of the National Working Committee, Board of Trustees, National Executive Committee and some supporters of the party are expected to be part of the protest.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that INEC declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the controversial February 25 presidential election.
According to INEC official results, Tinubu defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party who came second and third respectively.
While Tinubu polled a total 8,794,726 million votes, according to INEC official results, the 76-year-old former Vice President, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, and 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.
The election was largely characterised by voter suppression, thuggery, and alleged manipulation of results which led to the electoral umpire breaching its set out guidelines for the election, which stipulated that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters would be used for accreditation and uploading of polling units results.
However, that didn't happen in the election as INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said that they had glitches with the system.
However, to register its displeasure over the conduct of the polls, the PDP leadership announced the peaceful protest on Monday (today).
SaharaReporters observed that some security personnel comprising policemen and Department of State Services officers had been deployed to the venue of the protest.
However, our correspondent observed that the security personnel did not interfere as the protesters gathered to start their demonstration. Some of them have started changing to black attire which is the dress code for the protest.
The protest which will be led the party’s National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, will be accompanied by Governors Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Ademola Adeleke of Osun State.
The protest was scheduled to take off by 10 am from the PDP headquarters, Legacy House, Maitama, Abuja.
A memo signed by the Director of Administration on behalf of the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Aminu Tambuwal, read, “I am directed to respectfully invite your excellencies: The National Chairman, Dr Iyrochia Ayu, The Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyichukwu Okowa, Governors of Akwa Ibom and Chairman of PCC, Mr Udom Emmanuel, Sokoto state and DG of PCC, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and Governors of Bayelsa, Edo, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Osun states;
“Former Senate Presidents, Senator David Mark and Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, BoT members, NEC members, the PDP Senators and House of Representatives Members, NWC members of the party, DDGs, Directors, Deputies and Assistant Directors of NCMC; Members of the PCC; leadership of People Living with Disabilities and all other stakeholders to a protest match to INEC office.”