By Valentine Amanze
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned and rejected the sudden postponement of the February 16 Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) few hours before the commencement of polls.
While expressing shock over the postponement, the PDP said the idea was a grand plot to give the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency the space to perfect their rigging plans, which it said had been resisted by Nigerians.
The main opposition party, through its National Publicity Secretary and Director, Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that its flagbearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had worked hard for the election.
“Our party and the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have worked very hard in readiness for the election; our members and supporters, in their millions and generality of Nigerians that are eager to participate in
the democratic process had already moved close to their polling units in readiness to vote and to defend their votes.
“In some cases, Nigerians were already at their polling units in orderly queue in the hope to vote out the incompetent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari,” it stated.
It also pointed out that countless of patriotic Nigerians and families had spent huge resources and made exhaustive sacrifices in travelling to their various polling areas to vote for their consensus candidate, Atiku Abubakar, only for INEC to announce the postponement.
According to the PDP, the public space was replete with how the Buhari Presidency mounted
pressure on INEC leadership to postpone the election at the dying minute to place more burdens on voters and frustrate their enthusiasm for the election.
“Nigerians have lost trillions of naira, risked their lives on the road and in the air as well as faced other huge loses just because President Buhari is bent on perpetuating his inordinate quest to remain in office,” it said.
It also alleged that the APC and the Buhari Presidency, having realized that they have no chance of winning had continued to prepare the ground by inciting violence in various parts of the country, issuing threats to election
observers, using the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to escalate a sense of insecurity, burning INEC offices to paralyze its operations as well as using government officials to openly mount pressure on the commission to shift the elections.
“This is in addition to the compromising of government facilities and
agencies to frustrate the distribution of sensitive election materials
including results sheets in various states; the provocative substitution
of already trained INEC polling officials with APC members as well as the deployment of security forces to simultaneously arrest PDP leaders and supporters, particularly in Kwara, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Kano, Kaduna,
Rivers, Kogi, Bayelsa among other states to create a sense of national insecurity and trigger violent resistance by the people,” it said.
Besides, the PDP urged Nigerians not to despair or allow the nation’s
resilient spirit to be subjugated at this crucial time. “We must pick up ourselves against all odds and stand firm for the future of our dear nation.”
