“Nigerians may recall that the PDP had earlier alerted the nation to the plot by the Buhari Presidency to enmesh the 2019 elections into a needless controversy by deliberately delaying the presentation of the election budget to the National Assembly until the time the parliament was proceeding on an annual recess.
The Peoples Democratic Party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress to perish the thought of staying in power a day beyond May 29, 2019.
The PDP also cautioned the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, not to allow the APC and the Presidency to use him to execute their alleged plots to frustrate the conduct of credible 2019 elections and push for tenure elongation for President Buhari.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, that the PDP was aware that the mooting of postponement of the already scheduled general elections by the INEC Chairman was a product of a series of clandestine meetings between his commission and the APC on ways to frustrate the 2019 elections, having allegedly realised that there was no hope for President Buhari in the polls.
He said, “Nigerians and the international community have also noted the various ploys by INEC to frustrate a credible elections, including its stiff opposition to the amendment to the Electoral Act by the National Assembly to check the APC rigging plans in addition to its exposed collaborations with INEC to manipulate the voters register, enrol underage voters and secretly create 30,000 illegal polling centres in certain remote areas from where it plans to allocate fictitious votes to the APC.
“Nigerians may recall that the PDP had earlier alerted the nation to the plot by the Buhari Presidency to enmesh the 2019 elections into a needless controversy by deliberately delaying the presentation of the election budget to the National Assembly until the time the parliament was proceeding on an annual recess.
“Ostensibly to ensure that the election does not escape controversy, President Buhari demanded that the fund be taken from already approved budget for lawmakers’ constituency votes, despite entreaties by well-meaning Nigerians for a fresh budget for the elections.
“Seeing that Nigerians are standing shoulder to shoulder with the PDP to resist and dismantle their rigging machinery, the APC and Buhari Presidency are now trying to use INEC to frustrate the elections and cause a crisis in our country.
“The PDP, therefore, rejects this plot by the APC and INEC. The 2019 elections must hold as scheduled. Nigerians are ready for elections and cannot wait to vote out President Buhari and his dysfunctional APC.”
No plan to postpone 2019 elections, says INEC
But INEC said reports that it was planning to postpone the 2019 elections were not true and should be disregarded.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, stated this in a release on Wednesday, noting that the commission had no such plan, although it believed that elections could not be conducted under a rancorous atmosphere.
Oyekanmi said, “It is a common knowledge that the Osun State Governorship election will hold on Saturday, September 22 and that the 2019 general elections are only 156 days away. To be sure, INEC has no plan to postpone the 2019 general elections.
“There was an Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security meeting at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday. The INEC chairman at the meeting told the security chiefs that with the 2019 elections drawing close, the committee would need to meet more frequently to constantly assess the security situation across the country and take proactive actions to forestall any unpleasant event before, during or after the elections.
“He referred to Section 26 of the Electoral Act, which among others, gives the commission the power to postpone an election if there is a reason to believe that a serious breach of peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on the fixed date, as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies.
“It is clear that at no point during his remarks at the event did he allude to the notion that the commission may shift the 2019 polls over the threat of violence, as being said in the reports.”
Stop raising false alarm, APC tells PDP
The APC, in its reaction, said the PDP should go and prepare for elections instead of crying wolf where there was none.
The acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, said this in a telephone interview in Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said, “Our advice to the PDP is for them to go and prepare for elections instead of making false allegations. Nigerians are tired of their scaremongering.”
