Zenith Labour Party National Chairman Dan Nwanyanwu has claimed that the 2023 presidential election result depended on the survival of the collation process in which his party intervened, saying that if it had collapsed, Bola Tinubu would not have become president and former President Muhammadu Buhari would have dissolved INEC.
Speaking during a press briefing aired by Symfoni TV, Nwanyanwu was addressing allegations made by Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi in court that ZLP had not won any election and should be deregistered.
While defending his party’s record of winning 15 local government areas and 176 councilor seats, he shifted to what he described as a patriotic intervention during the 2023 presidential election collation at the International Conference Center in Abuja.
Nwanyanwu said he, speaking on behalf of IPAC, encouraged INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu to continue with the collation despite pressure at the time. He argued that this intervention prevented the process from failing and ensured that Tinubu emerged as president.
He alleged that there was a plan within the Buhari administration to dissolve INEC and appoint a new chairman who would delay the election process long enough to allow Buhari’s tenure to end and an interim government to be installed through the National Assembly.
He said Buhari did not want Tinubu to become president and that the Attorney General, who was not part of Tinubu’s initial list of nominees, has now forgotten that role. Nwanyanwu accused Fagbemi of trying to weaken smaller parties that could serve as alternatives for politicians leaving larger parties in crisis.
In his words, “We have become enemies of broader politicians because they say we should allow the system to collapse, but we took a patriotic position by encouraging Professor Mahmood, go ahead with the coalition. Heaven will not fall.”
“If you want to know the state of Mahmood at that time, go and talk to him. That was what saved Mahmood to continue. And if the collation had failed, Tinubu wouldn’t have been president. Muhammad Buhari would have dissolved INEC….See More
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