APC to PDP: Our democracy is maturing
On allegations that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) vowed to rig the forthcoming Osun Gubernatorial election and other subsequent elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has reminded the major opposition party PDP that the nation’s democracy is still maturing.
The ruling party also said that methods of crude election rigging such as ballot box snatching and announcing of concocted election results and other anomalies are no longer acceptable in this modern days.
The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena in a press statement on Wednesday at the party secretariat in Abuja said: “Perhaps the PDP needs to be reminded that our democracy is maturing and its crude election rigging methods such as ballot box snatching recently displayed at the last weekend by-election in Kogi state, announcement of concocted election results and other anomalies are no longer acceptable in our elections.
“The PDP rigging plan is a red flag that require urgent probe by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and relevant security agencies. We also call on well-meaning Nigerians and civil society organizations to speak out and resist the PDP’s retrogressive plan which threatens our democracy”.
It was alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday vowed to deploy all ‘means, schemes, shenanigans in all ramification and magnitude’ to rig all coming election, starting from the Osun State Governorship election. The party also ‘directed all its presidential aspirants to move all their political machinery into Osun state within this period’.
According to Nabena, “When the APC learnt of the shocking disclosures, we initially doubted its veracity and dismissed it as one of the fake news in circulation, until further checks backed by media reports confirmed the statement was indeed issued by the PDP National Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan.
“The PDP’s statement on Tuesday is particularly worrisome because it coincided with the situation field report we received of the PDP cloning Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) for use in the Osun governorship election.
“We are confident that the good people of Osun will resist the PDP’s deployment to take over the State by force. The people’s will; the people’s vote is supreme. It must be respected and defended. That is democratic, progressive and the right thing.
“We conclude by reminding the PDP of new realities as succinctly captured by President Muhammadu Buhari that, ‘the old Nigeria is slowly but surely disappearing and a new era is rising’ Unlike undemocratic practices under past administrations, elections under the APC administration are increasingly freer and fairer, a very significant feat in our march for lasting and representative democracy”, Nabena noted.
