…Party alleges plot by APC, FG to falsify figures on
achievements
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday asked the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately carry out an
open review of the country's voter register in order restore confidence on the
electorate ahead of the 2019 general election.
The party frowned at the statement credited to an INEC
official to the effect that staff of the commission were forced to register
under-aged persons, adding that the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu,
should either stand firm and ensure the integrity of the electoral process or
quit his job.
In the wake of concerns over trending video clips showing
under-aged kids lining up to cast their votes during election in Kano State,
INEC said last week that it has dispatched a team of officials to the state to
commence investigation.
However, the country’s main opposition party has accused the
commission of being reluctant to take decisive step on the issue of under-aged
voters.
The party also came on heavily on the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC)-led administration, accusing it of mobilising its agents to
commence the falsification of economic and development indices across all
sectors, with a view to creating a false sense of performance.
PDP's National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who
addressed a press conference in Abuja, said the recent revelation had
shown that a substantial part of millions of voters registered in Kano and
Katsina States were mostly under-aged persons.
He said the report of
prevalence of large number of under aged voters in states like Kano and Katsina
has greatly affected the credibility of the INEC voters’ register and
indirectly cast doubt on the ability of the commission to conduct free and fair
election in 2019.
The PDP spokesman said it took its outcry and other concerned
Nigerians before the commission reluctantly accepted responsibility for what he
called ‘illegality’.
However, he said INEC has refused to take decisive
steps to restore the sanctity of its register, particularly in Kano and Katsina
States.
According to him, "As you are aware, the INEC has
been indicted for registering and issuing permanent voters card
(PVCs) to millions of under-age persons,
particularly in Kano and Katsina
States respectively.”
He stated that PDP is also concerned about the
statement made by the INEC Chairman, Yakubu, that the commission would ask the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to monitor politicians and
political parties’ compliance over campaign expenditure.
Ologbodiyan said the move by INEC amounted to delegating the
constitutionally assigned duty of the commission to another agency.
"Nigerians have completely lost confidence in
INEC under
Yakubu, and we urge him to take the path of honour
and do the needful before it becomes too late," he said.
While demanding the revalidation of voters’ register
in Kano and Katsina States, Ologbondiyan said the incidence of under-aged
voting has caused loss of credibility of the electoral process under the
current INEC.
The party spokesman said: "By this alarming
and unpatriotic statement, INEC, under Prof.
Yakubu, has completely discredited and disqualified
itself, and cannot be trusted to conduct
a credible, free and fair general elections in 2019.
"The import of this statement is that INEC
under Yakubu is not firm in its acts and will consequently cave in and accept
any form of irregularities once it is put under pressure by members of a voting
community. It goes to say that this INEC can readily announce false results, cancel elections, alter polling
procedures and allow any irregularities during the 2019 general election once
it is threatened by the APC or any other group for that matter.
"If INEC is afraid of a voting community so
much that after registering minors, it still went ahead to process their data
and issue them with valid voters’ card, then there is no way it can withstand
the pressure and threat that we all know will be exerted by desperate APC forces,
whose electoral strength, particularly in Kano and Katsina
States, is now exposed to be based on under-age
voters.
"Consequently, the PDP demands an immediate
review of voters’ register, particularly in Kano and Katsina States; we demand the
revalidating of the voters’ register to eliminate all the minors, and insist
that no election must hold in these states until the register is sanitised.
"In order to achieve this, we demand that the
revalidation/sanitisation by INEC must be carried out under the supervision of
all political parties, credible associations, reputable NGOs as well as the international
community.”
Also, the PDP spokesman said he party is suspicious
of the plan by INEC asking EFCC to help
them monitor campaign funds, adding that such a move "is clearly an
illegal and Machiavellian way of suppressing opposition’s financial
contribution and spending."
He said the PDP suspects that the INEC's move is
part of APC-led administration's plot to detain, defame, intimidate and
illegally block bank accounts of opposition members under the pretext that they
have been mandated by INEC to monitor campaign funds.
"It is trite law that ‘delegatus non potest
delegare’. INEC, and only it has the statutory duty to monitor campaign funds.
The commission cannot delegate this function to any other government agency.
As part of strategies for the 2019 general
election, PDP further accused the APC administration of plot to manipulate performance
indices and use it to deceive Nigerian electorate.
Ologbodiyan spoke of the act of intolerance being
exhibited by APC and its government in some states where they are now
demolishing property
belonging to opposition, members and perceived
opponents of their 2019 re-election bid.
"We want to alert Nigerians and the
international community of a heinous design now hatched by the desperate
APC-controlled federal government to delude
Nigerians on the true state of affairs of our country, particularly on security
and the comatose economy.
"We have information that forces at the presidency
and the leadership of
the APC, having failed to record any meaningful
achievement in their three years of failed governance, and having realised that
they have nothing on which to anchor their ill-lucked 2019 re-election bid,
have mobilised their agents to commence the falsification of economic and development
indices across all sectors, with a view to create a false sense of performance.
"We are also privy to clandestine meetings and
the engagement of certain unscrupulous Nigerians and foreign profiling firms,
who have been
heavily paid to fabricate, dish out and saturate
our polity with fake performance indices and contrived polls in favour of the
failed and incompetent President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
"This face-saving stunt is being coordinated
by a member of the cabal in
the presidency alongside two prominent cabinet
ministers and a top member of the APC,” the party alleged.
PDP claimed that APC agents have infiltrated federal
ministries and agencies with a view to inject fake performance figures, while
the cabal is
mounting pressure on statistics-based organisations
to manipulate performance indices in favour of the failed presidency.
"We however wish to use this opportunity to
alert the media, all
Nigerians and the international community to, in
the interest of our
people, crosscheck all figures and indices coming
from the presidency,
the APC and uncertified profiling agencies, who are
being used by the
federal government in this new attempt to deceive the
people," he warned.
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