Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thursday said it would not accept the outcome of the 2019 general election if it was manipulated through the use of technology.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had expressed worry over growing cases of technology-related interferences in election results when it hosted a three-day international conference on the use of technology in the conduct of elections this week.
But the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, told a delegation of the European Union (EC) Ambassadors to Nigeria led by Ambassador Ketil Karlsen that the party demands nothing but free and fair elections from INEC in 2019.
“We want to assure you that we are law abiding citizens and follow constitution as we want to see this election free and fair and if they use technology to manipulate it, it will bring problem.
“Let it be a technology that will deliver a free and fair, transparency election. We urge INEC to keep by the rule of the law,†Secondus demanded.
He alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) wants to truncate the nation’s democracy, adding that INEC and security agencies operate as arms of the ruling party.
“So we want to bring this to the notice of the European Union and to the international community that it seems to us that the APC government wants to truncate the democracy by harassment and intimidation.
“Democracy cannot stand with intimidation as we believe in the rule of law, and we want the APC to take the rule of law for the growth of democracy in the country,†he said.
The PDP National Chairman further noted that the APC knows that it has achieved noting, but urged the party to allow the people decide who becomes their president in 2019.
“Let the APC talk to Nigerians who have given them mandate if they are ready to renew the mandate. We have rebranded our party and we are ready to regain lost ground for Nigerians.
“We are calling for transparency just as we did in 2015 peacefully, and as we can see the government of the day and all security agencies are operating as arms of the APC.
“We cannot afford to truncate our democracy as the largest black country in the world, our people has suffered as we urge European Union come into this,†he added.
Ambassador Karlsen had said the purpose of the visit was to ensure peaceful conduct of elections in Nigeria in 2019.
