The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) rose from an emergency meeting on Thursday, March 14, 2019, where
it examined the various states where elections were declared
inconclusive, whereas the PDP was in the lead, and demands that results
should be released and returns made by INEC immediately.
The hierarchy of the party condemns, in very strong terms, the manner in
which the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, declared states where PDP
had popular support and defeated the All Progressives Congress (APC) as
inconclusive, whereas in a state like Ogun state, where APC failed to
achieve a higher margin of lead over cancelled votes, was declared the
winner.
The PDP found it strange that INEC can have two sets of rules in the
same election for the various political parties.
More worrisome is the resolution which arose from a meeting between some
governors of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari, where the PDP has
been informed that a decision was taken to seize Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue,
Plateau, Sokoto and Kano states in the March 23, scheduled supplementary
election.
It is instructive to state that the Buhari Presidency has not denied
this strong allegation of rigging plans, thus strengthening the reality
that the APC is always prepared to benefit from electoral fraud.
The PDP wishes to state that after our deliberation and interface with
stakeholders from the various states where governorship supplementary
elections have been scheduled to hold, the party mandates all our
members to resist any attempt by anybody to tamper with the will of the
people in their states.
In Sokoto state, a stronghold of our party and where the PDP is already
in a clear lead, our victory at the March 23 supplementary election is
guaranteed.
In Benue, the people have expressed their readiness to go into the
supplementary election and they are prepared to vote for the PDP
candidate, Governor Samuel Ortom. They are also aware that by PDP’s
current leading margin of over 81,000 votes, it is manifestly clear that
there is no way APC, with all its manipulations, militarization,
arm-twisting, intimidation and harassment, will defeat the PDP in Benue.
In Adamawa, the PDP observed the mischievous calculation of the APC in
sponsoring someone, who did not participate in the election, to go to
court and claim that the logo of his party was omitted in the ballot.
This is a their desperate bid to get the election already won by the PDP
cancelled. The PDP however notes the failure of the APC to achieve its
mischief in Adamawa state.
In Bauchi state, it is known to all, including the APC and its
governorship candidate, that Tafawa Balewa Local Government has always
been a home to the PDP since 1999. We therefore counsel the APC rigging
machine to avert engaging the people of that constituency, as it will be
of no avail.
In Kano state, the APC will be confronting the strong will of the people
to do away with a corrupt and incompetent government, which Governor
Abdullahi Ganduje has come to represent. The atmosphere of Kano state is
ominous and any responsible government will take note and align in the
interest of the people.
Already, the people of Kano state are standing shoulder to shoulder with
the PDP in their pursuit of bringing a government that will be
representative and purposeful.
On no account must Nigerians allow a culture of impunity, where those
who failed in any elections will compromise our electoral arbiter and
force themselves on the people.
In Rivers state, the PDP restates our demand that INEC should release
the results already collated on the governorship election in which PDP
clearly won and declare Governor Nyesom Wike as winner.
Furthermore, the PDP expresses worry over the damage done to the image
of the military by its hierarchy by allowing itself to be used by the
APC.
It is despicable that our military has been dragged into politics to an
extent where soldiers now join issues with politicians in the media and
conduct its affairs as if it has become a political party. This partisan
involvement of our armed forces, to say the least, has impaired the
confidence Nigerians have on the institution of the military.