…Calls for Immediate Review of Voters Register in Kano and Katsina Under the Supervision of Political Parties and International Community
…Confirms That INEC Will Cave In and Accept Any Form of Irregularities Once Put Under Pressure by Members of a Voting Community
…Informs That INEC’s Directive to EFCC to Monitor Party Fund is a Plot to Intimidate and Illegally Block Bank Accounts of Opposition Members
…Claims Knowledge of Mounted Pressure on Statistics-based Organizations by APC to Manipulate Performance Indices to Anchor Their ill-lucked 2019 Re-election Bid
…Tasks the Media, Nigerians and International Community to Crosscheck all Figures and Indices Coming From Presidency, APC or Their Uncertified Foreign Profiling Agencies
…Condemns the Evil Plan of APC-led Federal Government to Monitor Citizens’ Phone Calls and Social Media Communication Without any Enabling Law
By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alerted that the Prof Yakubu Mahmood-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is incapable of midwifing a credible, free and fair election come 2019.
According to the PDP, its conviction is derived from the self indicting confession that it registered and issued Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) to millions of underage persons because the commission’s agents were threatened by members of the communities in those states.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan made this known on Tuesday in a Press Conference titled, “Issues of Urgent National Importance” held at the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata House, Abuja.
Kola who noted that the credibility of our electoral process under the current INEC is hugely in doubt, reminded that nation was terrified by the announcement by the commission’s Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, that INEC registered minors because its agents were threatened by members of the communities in those states.
He insisted that by this alarming and unpatriotic statement, INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has completely discredited and disqualified itself and cannot be trusted to conduct a credible, free and fair general elections in 2019.
According to him, “If INEC will be so afraid of a voting community to the point of registering minors, why did it also went ahead to process their data and issue them with valid voters card. He therefore stressed that this is an indication that there is no way INEC can withstand the pressure and threat that we all know will be exerted by desperate APC forces, whose electoral strength, particularly in Kano and Katsina states, is now exposed to be based on underage voters.
“The crux of the matter, he said, is that INEC under Prof. Yakubu is not firm in its acts and will consequently cave in and accept any form of irregularities once it is put under pressure by members of a voting community. It goes to say that this INEC can readily announce false results, cancel elections, alter polling procedures and allow any irregularities during the 2019 general elections once it is threatened by the All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other group for that matter”.
PDP therefore, called for the immediate review of voters register, particularly in Kano and Katsina to eliminate all the minors and insisted that no election must hold in these states until the register is sanitized. Adding that the revalidation/sanitization by INEC must be carried out under the supervision of all political parties, credible associations, reputable NGOs as well as the international community.
Kola while reminding that only INEC has the statutory duty to monitor campaign funds, observed that the plan by INEC to delegate its statutory duty to EFCC to monitor campaign funds is clearly an illegal and Machiavellian way of suppressing opposition’s financial contribution and spending with the aim of intimidate and illegally blocking bank accounts of opposition members under the pretext that they have been mandated by INEC to monitor campaign funds.
He maintained that Nigerians have completely lost confidence in INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and therefore urged him to take the path of honour and do the needful before it becomes too late.
The statement reads in part:
In the same vein, we want to alert Nigerians and the international community of a heinous design now hatched by the desperate APC-controlled Federal Government to delude Nigerians on the true state of affairs of our nation, particularly on security and the comatose economy.
We have information that forces at the Presidency and the leadership of the APC, having failed to record any meaningful achievement in their three years of failed governance, and having realized that they have nothing on which to anchor their ill-lucked 2019 re-election bid, have mobilized their agents to commence the falsification of economic and development indices across all sectors, with a view to create a false sense of performance.
We are also privy to clandestine meetings and the engagement of certain unscrupulous Nigerians and foreign profiling firms, who have been heavily paid to fabricate, dish out and saturate our polity with fake performance indices and contrived polls in favour of the failed and incompetent Buhari-led Federal Government.
This face-saving stunt is being coordinated by a member of the cabal in the Presidency, alongside two prominent cabinet ministers and a top member of the APC.
As we speak, agents have infiltrated federal ministries and agencies with a view to inject fake performance figures, while the cabal is mounting pressure on statistics based organizations to manipulate performance indices in favour of the failed Presidency.
In line with their design, in the next couple of months, the news media and the entire polity would be inundated with cooked-up indices, which will be well spiced up and heavily publicized to give unsuspecting Nigerians a false sense of hope and set the table for another round of electoral propaganda.
Part of this plot is to falsify figures to suggest sudden economic rebound, with false and unverifiable statistics in critical sectors, particularly, agriculture, youth empowerment, health, social safety nets, security among others to hoodwink the people.
There will also be frantic effort to lay claim on projects initiated and executed by the PDP; multiple commissioning of same projects like the railway project and the unmanned drone project in Kaduna state; awards of bogus contracts and procurement of international endorsements.
Our take is that this resort to falsehood has clearly shown the depravity of the APC in the face of its failure. Such a trip is practically of no moment as Nigerians are now better informed and cannot be swayed by imported indices and fabricated statistics.
We however wish to use this opportunity to alert the media, all Nigerians and the international community to, in the interest of our people, crosscheck all figures and indices coming from the Presidency, the APC and uncertified profiling agencies, who are being used by the Federal Government in this new attempt to deceive.
Government Impunity
We also want to inform Nigerians of the intolerance trend adopted by APC and its government in some states that are now demolishing property belonging to opposition members and perceived opponents of their 2019 re-election bid.
This morning, Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai was reported to have detailed bulldozers and armored tanks to demolish a property belonging to Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi perceived to be against his 2019 re-election bid.
In Adamawa, the state government has pulled down billboards and signposts belonging to opposition parties while harassing our members and perceived political opponents ahead of President Buhari state visit.
In January this year, Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima superintended over the demolition of PDP state secretariat in Maiduguri following the renewed popularity of our party in the state.
In Kogi, a property belonging to Senator Dino Melaye, who is known for his criticism of the APC derailed government, has been marked for demolition.
Today, despite our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association and speech, Nigerians now live in fear of this intolerant, overbearing, bigoted and dictatorial APC administration seeking to foist a fascist regime on our country.
How do we explain or justify the evil plan of APC-led Federal Government to monitor citizens’ phone calls and social media communication purportedly to check for hate speeches without any enabling law. We advice the APC government to desist from this planned unconstitutionality, which threatens the very essence of democracy especially plurality of opinions.
It is on this note that the PDP raises a rallying cry to all well-meaning Nigerians, civil society organizations and the international community to rise up and collectively condemn the anti-people actions and proclivities of this incompetent and imperious government, which has brought so much pain to our dear nation.
