Ensure All Ballot Papers Are at Polling Units, PDP Tells INEC

As Nigeria begins the 2019 general election this weekend with the anticipated presidential election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make sure that all ballot papers for the election are brought to their designated polling units on election day to forestall any attempt to rig.

This is even as the PDP also raised concern on the alleged positioning of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the INEC to serve as Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers for the elections.

Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday during an interactive meeting with news editors, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said INEC failure to ensure that all ballot papers were brought out to their designated polling units on the day of election would lead to rigging.

“What we’re saying is that let all the ballot papers be brought out to the polling units so that people can vote. It is only when INEC fails to bring out the ballot papers that people will be able to rig. If they held back some of the ballot papers, they will stay back there and write the results and then come out to announce it. That should not be allowed to happen. If all the ballot papers are brought out, nobody will be able to rig the election,” Ologbondiyan said.

The party said the PDP had been complaining about non-upgrade of card readers but INEC had refused to do anything about it, adding that the party still stands on its position that Amina Zakari be removed entirely from the electoral process.

However, the PDP spokesman also faulted the voting process as announced by the INEC, saying accrediting and voting at the same time would lead to ballot box snatching and rigging as a good number of voters would not be present to monitor what happens next.

According to him, “They (INEC) said people should accredit and vote at once. They said it’s because some people, after accreditation, will not want to come back to vote. But we’re saying this can lead to ballot box snatching and rigging because if the people don’t stay to monitor what is happening after their voting some few bad boys around will have the power to snatch the ballot boxes and go away to rig the election.”

Meanwhile, the PDP spokesman taunted the APC for unconsciously campaigning for the major opposition party.

According to him, “APC are now campaigning for us because they are saying that the world powers are campaigning for our candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

“So by doing that, they don’t know that they are making our candidate more popular, they don’t know that they are campaigning for us.”

He stated that the 2019 presidential election would shape the future of the country, stressing that the PDP was on a rescue mission.

Ologbondiyan warned that the worst thing that would happen to Nigeria is for President Muhammadu Buhari to win the election and remain in power for the next four years, noting that he (Buhari) would by then suspend the Constitution of Nigeria and starts ruling with Executive Orders.