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Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga has rejected the 2022 presidential results terming them null and void.
Addressing the media on Tuesday 16th August, Raila said that he would be heading to court to challenge the results which he termed as null and void.
The Former Prime Minister also accused the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati of violating the constitution and electoral laws in his decision to announce the former deputy president William Ruto as the President-elect.
“What we saw yesterday was a travesty of the laws of Kenya by Wafula Chebukati and a minority of IEBC commissioners… The figures announced by Wafula Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law. In our view, there is no legally declared president-elect,”
“Mr. Chebukati’s announcement purporting to announce a winner is a nullity. He (Chebukati) acted with gross impunity and in total disregard of the Constitution and our laws,” he said.
The ODM leader accused Chebukati of going against the law and exercising the dictatorship by proceeding to announce the winner despite the four commissioners rejecting the results.
“The law is clear on the role of the chairperson of the IEBC. The law does not vest in the chairperson the powers of a dictator to rule the IEBC unilaterally,” Raila said
“The IEBC is structured as a democratic institution in which decisions must be taken either by consensus or by a vote of the majority. The chairperson and a tiny minority of commissioners have no legal authority to take weighty decisions and proclaim them as the rulings of the IEBC.”
He further advised his supporters to remain calm and his team explores legal avenues to challenge Chebukati’s announcement.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I want to repeat that we totally and without reservations reject the presidential results announced yesterday by Mr. Chebukati,”
“I want to commend our supporters for remaining calm and keeping the peace, and I urge them to continue to do so. Let no one take the law into their own hands. We are pursuing constitutional and lawful channels and processes to invalidate Mr. Chebukati’s illegal and unconstitutional pronouncement. We are certain that justice will prevail,” continued.
He also commended the four IEBC commissioners who walked out of Bomas to disown the results that were announced by their chairman Wafula Chebukati.
The ODM leader described the act by IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, commissioners Irene Masit, Justus Nyang’anya, and Francis Wanderi as “heroic”.
“I want to further commend the heroism of the FOUR commissioners – the majority of the IEBC – who stood up to the bullying and illegal conduct of Mr. Chebukati. We are proud of them and ask them not to fear anything. Kenyans are with them,” he concluded.
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