No Place for Interim National Govt in Constitution, PDP Campaign Tells Tinubu

•Insists February 25 presidential election date is sacrosanct 

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation has warned the  Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to perish the contemplations or discussions of setting up an Interim National Government, saying such does not have any place whatsoever in the 1999 Constitution as amended. 

The Spokesperson of the campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement issued yesterday said the warning became imperative following reports of alleged sinister plots by the APC Campaign to create situations and narratives to justify its reported demands for the postponement of the 2023 general election.

He said these reported moves by the APC  Campaign was not only cowardly but also confirm that Tinubu was intimidated by the overwhelming popularity of the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and as such seeks to scuttle the election. 

Ologbondiyan said: “Our Campaign also advises the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign to immediately perish its narratives or demands for the postponement of the 2023 general elections, as the February 25, 2023 Presidential election date must be sacrosanct given that Nigerians are ready to go to the polls where they will elect Atiku Abubakar as the next President of our country.

“Our Campaign has also received intelligence of a very dangerous plot by the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign to continue to orchestrate unrest across the country aimed at truncating the electoral process, triggering a constitutional crisis and foisting an undemocratic situation of Interim National Government on our country, having realized that it has no chance in the election.”

“It is indeed pathetic that Tinubu, who ought to know that the 1999 Constitution, upon which our democracy derives its existence, is the one reported to be pushing for a situation of an Interim National Government (ING), just because it is clear to him that he cannot win the February 25, 2023 Presidential election.”

The PDP campaign said the public could further comprehend the full import of Tinubu’s directive to his followers in London when he declared that “political power is not going to be served in a restaurant, it is not served a la carte. It is what we are doing; It is being determined; you do it at all cost; fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it”. 

Ologbondiyan added that such inciting comments are at the root of the violent attacks on innocent Nigerians as well as facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by APC thugs in various parts of our country.

He noted that Tinubu must come to the full realization that his reliance on financial inducements alone cannot save him as there was no way Nigerians would elect any individual who has shown manifest incapacities to serve as the President of the nation.

Ologbondiyan said the PDP campaign, standing with Nigerians, called on INEC to immune itself from the shenanigans of the APC Campaign and focus on its mandate to deliver a free, fair and credible Presidential election on February 25, 2023.

He further said part of this plot was the reported interception, mopping up and hoarding of new Naira notes by the APC Campaign for the purpose of vote buying leading to the biting scarcity of new Naira notes and consequential suffering and hardship across the country. 

Ologbondiyan urged Tinubu to face the reality of his looming defeat and stop the shenanigans of seeking to introduce dangerous forms of contraption into our polity.