By Daniel Kanu
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday doubled down on its allegation that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was working to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari triumphs in the February 16, presidential election.
PDP’s position was reinforced when the national publicity secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, addressed a press conference in Abuja.
Mr Ologbondiyan said Nigerians were worried whether INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu “can conduct an election, which will indeed be free, fair, credible and transparent.”
The major opposition party urged the INEC boss to resist all alleged attempts by the government to pressure him into subverting the people’s will.
Below is the full statement:
Call On INEC Chairman To Resist Pressure From APC and Buhari Presidency
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reviewed all the circumstances surrounding the activities of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), as presently constituted, and after a careful
appraisal of comments by critical national and international
stakeholders, we challenge INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to rise
above the manifest compromises and conduct the 2019 general elections in
a transparent manner.
The entire nation is worried and the palpable fear of every Nigerian
today is whether Mahmood Yakubu can conduct an election, which will
indeed be free, fair, credible and transparent.
This is particularly as allegations are rife in the public space, that
the INEC Chairman is being compromised by the All Progressives Congress
(APC) and the Buhari Presidency with offers of huge sums of money,
choice property within and outside Nigeria, as well as juicy
appointments to his relations as bribes, in return for the rigging of
the elections in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC.
The PDP urges Prof. Yakubu to resist any such pressure. This is
especially as many Nigerians fear that this is the reason behind the
compromising insistence by INEC to lump together the accreditation of
voters and voting, a situation that will muddle up the process and pave
the way for participation of aliens, underage and unregistered voters
and allocate fictitious figures in favour of President Buhari and the
APC.
This scenario is also feared to be the reason INEC is succumbing to
pressure by the Buhari Presidency to retain Mrs. Amina Zakari, President
Buhari’s relation by marriage, as head of the collation center, where
she is being positioned to alter genuine results and allocate fictitious
figures in favour of President Buhari.
We already have information that the geo-spatial centers created by the
INEC Chairman in the six geo-political zones have also been dubiously
duplicated by Mrs. Amina Zakari in all the zones from where APC and
Buhari Presidency intend to assemble fictitious votes and transmit same
to INEC’s data base and situation room.
We are also aware that the process of employing Ad-hoc staff that will
function as electoral officers, particularly in the Presidential
election have already been compromised to favour the APC under Mahmood Yakubu’s watch to manipulate the process.
Presently, more than half of the card readers to be used in the
elections have been rendered obsolete and non-functional. We have less
that 30 days to the elections and these card readers have not been
upgraded. We have it on good authority that these will be used to create
confusion on election days and facilitate the use of incident form,
which will hamper transparency.
The PDP, therefore, in the strongest terms, charges Mahmood Yakubu to
demonstrate his credibility and ability to conduct free, fair and
transparent elections by taking urgent and decisive steps to show that
he has not been compromised by the APC and the Buhari Presidency.
To do this, we demand that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu immediately rejigs the
electoral guidelines in a way that accreditation must be first
concluded, number of accredited voters ascertained and openly announced
before actual voting. Anything short of this will only validate the
position of Nigerians that INEC has been compromised by the APC.
Similarly, Prof. Yakubu cannot claim to be committed to a credible
election with the continued stay of Amina Zakari as head of the
collation center, in spite of manifest conflict of interest. Prof.
Yakubu must without further delay remove Amina Zakari from this
sensitive position, if he indeed intends to conduct a credible collation
of Presidential results.
Furthermore, to hedge any infraction from the dubious duplication of the
geo-spatial centers by Amina Zakari, the PDP insists that INEC’s final
collation center must be made open to agents of all the Presidential
candidates as well as representatives of national and international
observers.
While we note that President Buhari has bowed to pressure by Nigerians
and eased out Ibrahim Idris as Inspector General of Police, we urge him
to also lend credence to the electoral process by easing out his relation by marriage, Amina Zakari, from INEC.
We are aware that Amina Zakari has since taken over the duties of the
INEC Chairman on the behest of the Buhari Presidency. Today, the world
has turned our nation to a mockery and they are aghast as how a sitting
President can be insisting that his relation must be the retuning
officer in an election in which he is going to participate.
In the same vein, following revelations that the process of recruiting
INEC Ad-hoc staff has been compromised to favour the APC, the PDP
insists that Prof. Yakubu must publish the names of all the ad-hoc staff
that have been recruited, in their respective constituencies, to enable
voters in those areas to assess the independence and integrity of such
electoral officers.
We charge Prof. Yakubu to note that this election is very crucial to the
survival of our nation and that he is now at the epicenter of the future
of our country. He must therefore rise above offers of compromises
surrounding him.
We believe that Prof. Yakubu has a name to protect. He must know that
there is a life after office. We hope and pray that he will not end up
like the disgraced last Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotum
Idris. Prof. Yakubu should know that Nigerians will hold him directly
responsible if the 2019 general election is derailed.
Claim of Security threats by Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The PDP has noted the address today, by the Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, acting on behalf of the Buhari Presidency, that
some groups are being mobilized to stage violent attacks in various
parts of our country.
We have noted the detailing of awareness of the said plots by Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, which exposes manifest complicity at very high level.
In the light of this and the already displayed desperation by the APC
ahead of the general elections, the PDP calls on Nigerians to hold
President Buhari directly responsible for any escalation of violence in
our nation.
It is imperative to state that the PDP finds the claims of Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, irresponsible and ludicrous. It is just a measure for building
the ground for framing up and arrest of leading members of the
opposition as he has just confirmed our concerns.
Severally, we have alerted the nation that the APC and the Buhari
Presidency, having come to the reality of their imminent and disgraceful
loss at the polls have embarked on a strategy to foment crisis in our
dear nation and blame the opposition.
The PDP, as known to all Nigerians and the world is a party that
preaches and function by peace. We have conducted rallies in many states
and geo-political zones without a record of violence. The APC cannot
make a similar claim of a peaceful rally in its few attempts at
interacting with its members and the public.
Its party primaries ended in violence and multiple deaths. Its rally in
Lagos state ended in a fiasco and recorded fatalities. Its Presidential
candidate is known all over the world for inciting supporters against
peace-loving Nigerians, when he said that baboon and dogs will soak in
their blood.
On behalf of Nigerians, we thank Alhaji Lai Mohammed for mustering the
courage to bring the nefarious plans of the APC to the public. The PDP
and Nigerians are prepared for a peaceful election in defence of our
democracy.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
Director, Media & Publicity
PDP Presidential Campaign Organization