Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that the participation of the former Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Frankland Briyia, as an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Bayelsa State, has confirmed its allegation that the APC planted its members in the Independent National Electorial Commission (INEC) to write favourable figures for President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 2019 presidential election.
The PDP, according to a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that Briyia’s governorship ambition on the platform of the APC, which he announced while still in the confines of his office as REC, exposed INEC as a partisan electoral umpire under the watch of its current chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood.
The party called on Nigerians to note that INEC, in a recent statement, denied receiving any resignation letter from Briyia at the time he announced his governorship ambition.
“Our party, therefore, calls on President Buhari to come out clean on the real reason he failed to sanction the Cross River State’s REC in line with the law.”
The PDP also urged President Buhari to speak out on allegations that he failed to sanction Briyia because of the role he allegedly played in favour of the APC in the last Presidential election.
The party, however, expressed confidence that justice will definitely be served at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal where Nigerians repose hope for the retrieval of the Presidential mandate stolen by the APC.
The PDP requested that the National Assembly should open a public hearing on the issue. It also called on legislators to amend the Electoral Act in order to check the appointment and retention of persons with political leanings as electoral officers. It also demanded the application of stringent sanctions for infringements in that direction.
