- APC mocks opposition party
By Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked its members to work hard to win the November 30, supplementary election for Kogi West senatorial zone.
The main opposition party also expressed concerns that President Muhammadu Buhari was more interested in the continuation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in office than he was in the survival of democracy in the country.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, last night clarified that it was not boycotting the supplementary election. Rather, it charged its members and supporters in Kogi West to brace up and get ready for a triumphant extra poll.
It called on all its members, supporters, citizens and voters in Kogi West to unite in readiness against any repressive forces that might attempt to forcefully invade any polling unit to disrupt electoral process or alter results as witnessed in the November 16 elections.
The PDP noted that Kogi State and particularly Kogi West, remains its home and the people are not ready to stomach the kind of impunity exhibited by the APC in the November 16 polls.
It said: “Our party, therefore, charges the people of Kogi State to come prepared to vote, protect their votes and ensure that they stamp their will on the ballot despite the odds.
“The PDP cautions security agents as well as officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to pander to repressive forcers, who seek to subvert the will of the people, as such is capable of attracting dire consequences.”
The party directed its members to stay united under their leaders in the area, as they would continue to be updated of vital information ahead of the election.
The INEC had last week fixed next Saturday for the supplementary poll to conclude the November 16 senatorial election in the district, which the commission had declared inconclusive.
But the PDP had said it had not only lost interest in the electoral umpire’s ability to be fair to all parties, but also rejected the scheduled supplementary election.
PDP: Buhari Not Concerned about Democracy Survival
The party also expressed concerns that Buhari was more interested in the continuation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in office, than he was in the survival of democracy in the country.
PDP urged the president to address the issues of violence, killings and alleged alteration of election results by the APC under his watch.
It advised Buhari to end all attempts to “bring the unconstitutional third term, which he cannot get, to public discourse.”
The PDP made its views known via a series of tweets on its verified Twitter handle @OfficialPDPNig.
It warned that if Buhari “seeks to uphold the constitution, he should have used the APC NEC meeting to directly and strongly condemn his party’s resort to violence, killing, forcible invasion of polling units and alteration of results to seize power in the November 16, Kogi and Bayelsa states governorship election, as well as the Kogi West Senatorial election.”
The party said by now, the president ought to have summoned his service chiefs and ordered a presidential investigation into the violence and observed infractions in the elections.
PDP’s Doomsday will Not Be Postponed, Says APC
Meanwhile, the APC has described the reported boycott and the PDP’s call to postpone the Kogi West Senatorial supplementary election as a ‘silly joke’.
The ruling party said that PDP’s doomsday would not be postponed a second time.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement issued yesterday said that nobody was fooled by the PDP’s statement threatening to boycott the supplementary election.
Issa-Onilu stated: “Nobody is fooled by the PDP’s statement boycotting the supplementary election. The All Progressives Congress (APC) will not drop its guard in our quest to get a clear majority of the remaining votes in the affected units.
“Why should the supplementary election be cancelled as being demanded by the PDP? Is it because the PDP has already lost the election? As the wide margin of valid votes from the November 16 exercise shows, it is clear that Dino Melaye and the PDP have lost the election.”
The party refuted PDP’s allegations of using state institutions to influence election results.
