The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday said his party would beat today's
deadline in the submission of the names of candidates for the Bayelsa and Kogi States
the governorship elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
INEC has stated that all political parties
participating in the November 16 governorship must submit the names of all the
governorship candidates with the votes scored during the primary elections
The commission in a statement signed by the National
Commissioner in charge of Information and Public Education, Festus Okoye,
insisted that the September 9 date for the submission of gubernatorial
candidates remaining sacrosanct.
The Commission also asked the parties to submit the
names of their liaison officers that will mediate with the commission.
Speaking in an interview with reporters, Secondus
said: "We shall comply with the directives from INEC. We have conducted our primaries in line with
the Electoral Act. We have also
appointed our liaison officers who will mediate with INEC. So we are ready to meet with the Commission.
"Apart from meeting with the guidelines, we
will by Monday constitute our campaign committees for the two states. And PDP will move into full campaigns and
reconciliation. We are not taking
chances; the two governorship candidates in the two states are not leaving
anything to chance as they have also moved to reconcile with their colleagues
who contested against them."
Meanwhile, the party's gubernatorial candidate in
Kogi State, Musa Wada, has said the party was ready to reclaim the mantle of
leadership in the state on November 16.
Wada, while speaking with journalists at the
weekend in Abuja, said Kogi State traditionally belongs to the PDP, and the
party was ready to take over the state, adding that “we are not afraid of power
of incumbency.”
The PDP candidate, who was last Friday issued the
Certificate of Return by the party, said the PDP was going into action by constituting
necessary committees, and in due time, would launch into peaceful campaign
across the state.
Wada stated that although Nigerians were aware of
how volatile the state used to be during election period, PDP was fully committed
to peaceful and issue-based campaign.
According to him, “No civilize democracy tolerates
violence, however, I have to say that nobody has the monopoly of violence.
“PDP as a peaceful party will not encourage
violence, but that is not to say that we will sit down and fold our arms when
we are being tormented by undemocratic forces.
“Traditionally, Kogi is a PDP state, and we have
always removed incumbent governors. Back to history, PDP removed former
Governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, in 2003.’’
Wada, while urging the people not to allow
themselves to be used for electoral violence, called on the All Progressives
Congress (APC) to embrace peaceful election, saying violence does not help
anybody.
He said: “Nobody will put his child forward to
carry gun and attack others. People should realise that those using them as
thugs have children too. Why are they not using their children as thugs?
“PDP is going to this election to preach to the
people about our manifesto, and take away poverty that is now synonymous with
our state. The election is about issues.
“We are not
going to care about violence, but let me tell you that we are very much on
ground. We have grassroots supports, and on their own, they are ready to quell any
violence that comes their way.’’
The PDP standard bearer, who stressed that nothing
was working in the state, pledged total revival of all sectors of the state thorough
a six-point agenda, which includes infrastructure, health, human empowerment,
security and education.
“Today, nothing is working in Kogi State;
everything is bad in the state, including security. The state is very porous
with proliferation of gun everywhere.
“The civil servants are not paid. The road
infrastructure is zero-from the state capital to the grassroots.
“So if one
comes in, we will declare a state of emergency in all the sectors, where we
will put our six-point agenda into work immediately to revive everything. We
are talking of revival of the whole sectors because nothing is working in the
state.
“I have always stated that Kogi State is the poverty
capital of Nigeria. From stomach infrastructure to human empowerment to
reviving the entire decayed infrastructure. So the work is enormous. We are
going to face them headlong,” Wada said.
Wada, therefore, advised the INEC and security
agencies to ensure that the election is free, credible and reflects the wish of
the people.
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