By Daniel Kanu
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, on Wednesday alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was designing special card readers and result sheets for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the purposes of the 2019 polls.
He, therefore, warned the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, that history would be unkind to him if he fails to conduct free and fair elections in 2019.
Prince Secondus further warned that any attempt to manipulate 2019 elections “would be a recipe for crisis in the country and the INEC Chairman will be held accountable.”
The PDP national chairman who spoke while hosting the election team of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) led by Mohammad Conteh at the party’s National Campaign headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, said that the electoral commission was working in conjunction with the APC to rig the election in 2019.
According to a statement from the national chairman’s media office signed by his media Adviser, Mr. Ike Abonyi, Prince Secondus alleged that the Commission used the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states as rehearsal to practice their rigging strategy for 2019.
“They have finished their rigging arrangements with preloaded cards and special election result sheets all doctored to favour the ruling APC.
“The INEC chairman has no strong will to follow our electoral laws and constitution as well as the laid down international standards in his processes towards 2019 and we want to let the world know this before it happens.
“They have finished plots to isolate Kano, Benue, Rivers, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Imo, Kwara and Lagos states for disruption during the general election,” alleging further that INEC’s rigging agenda was being propelled by the security agencies especially the “current Inspector General of Police who has proved to be the most violent and biased police boss in the country.”
Secondus said the PDP was using the INEC template in “Ektiti and Osun states to reiterate our lack of confidence in the commission as nothing has happened to show that there is going to do anything different from what they did in those two states.”
He advised INEC to disregard the size of Nigeria and go to Ghana and pick some lessons on how to conduct free and fair elections.
Secondus, however, commended the judiciary for standing up for democracy pointing out that “without that arm of the government, the country would have been a banana republic.”
The PDP national chairman, who fielded questions from the five-man team of the sub regional body said credible elections in Nigeria would go a long way to deepen democracy in the region.
