Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the new dates announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the general elections, saying the postponemnet “is part of a grand design by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to thwart the will of Nigerians at all cost.”
PDP National Chairman, Prince Secondus, said this on Saturday while reacting to the postponement announced by the Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Staurday morning.
He said this shows that INEC is a failure and called on its chairman to resign immediately.
Yakubu had shifted the Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled to hold today.
But the Secondus took exception, alleging that poor arrangements for the elections by INEC is part of a deliberate agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to cling on to power despite the fact that Nigerians want him out.
According to him, having failed in all their nefarious options to enable them cling on to power, “the APC and the INEC came up with the idea of shifting election, an action that is dangerous to our democracy and is therefore unacceptable.”
He added, “The APC in connivance with the INEC “have been trying all options including but not limited to burning down INEC offices in some states and destroying of electoral materials to create artificial problems upon which to stand for their dubious act.
“With several of their rigging options failing, they have to force INEC to agree to a shift in the election or a staggered election with flimsy excuses pre-manufactured for the purpose.
“For the avoidance of doubt the PDP sees this action as wicked and we are also aware of other dubious designs like the deployment of hooded security operatives who would be ruthless on the people ostensibly to scare them away.”
By this action, “the President has further demonstrated his “insensitivity costing the huge cost after Nigerians including those who came home from abroad have all mobilised to their various constituencies.”
Prince Secondus further alleged that the wicked killing of over 60 persons mostly women and children in Southern Kaduna on the eve of election was a copious ploy by the APC to frighten the people away from voting, knowing too well that they were not going to record any vote from the area.
He recalled that Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai had earlier “threatened international election observers of going to their country in body bags and with the fatal violence in the state on the eve of election, it’s clear what the motives are, to frighten the observers from the state so that he can carry out his nefarious acts.”
He stated that the statement of President Buhari that nobody can unseat him from office was an indication of what he wanted to do, regretting that he broke his promise at the signing of peace accord that the election would be conducted in a fair and transparent atmosphere by sending soldiers and other security agencies “to arrest, harass and intimidate opponents in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Kano, Kaduna states.”
The PDP Chairman made it clear that his party will not accept anything short of a well organised electoral process devoid of manipulation, harassment and intimidation of voters and the opposition particularly members of the PDP.
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