INEC working more for PDP – Oshiomhole

Tom Okpe, Abuja

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of working in the interest of the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the Saturday polls. Oshiomhole categorically said that the leadership of “INEC is unfair to APC” by refusing the party fielding elective candidates in Zamfara State while it looked away from the PDP in Kano State where the party did not hold its Primary Election. The ruling party chairman who said all allegations of the PDP are unsubstantiated however pointed that foreign observers are worthy partners but have not come to supervise the country’s electoral processes but to observe and so, should maintain that status-quo. He also said President Buhari is not a sit tight President but only seeking re-election for second tenure in office which is not against the law. Speaking to journalists on Wednesday in a press conference at his Aso Drive Office in Abuja, Oshiomhole said: “If anything, this INEC has been very unfair to the APC. But we just discovered that we have a responsibility. The fact that we are a governing party imposes on us a certain level of code that you can’t be seen to rubbish every institution, because if we rubbish everything, it would mean that we don’t want election. “INEC believe everything the PDP says. As we speak, there are two Resident Electoral Commissioners who are virtually campaigning line by line with the PDP in the South-south. “INEC, without giving us any explanation and without any concrete evidence went ahead to say we can’t field candidates in Zamfara, thereby seeking to award, without any context and nullify democracy in Zamfara state. Is that the way your friends behave if they are your friends. “INEC is working more for the PDP, based on evidence I can show. How can they explain that a court of competent jurisdiction gave orders in Zamfara to say this candidate is eligible to contest election and another high court in Abuja also gave a verdict saying APC did not conclude its primaries, but did not give order to INEC. There is no order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja. The Court of Appeal made a pronouncement on this matter today that there was no order from the court in Abuja, but that there was a concrete order from a Zamfara High Court which upheld the primaries that was conducted in the state. “The INEC Chairman Prof. Yakub Mahmud said that when there are two court orders, they will adopt the last judgement. In Zamfara state, the Abuja judgement came first and the Zamfara judgment came last even though it is the same say. “More as INEC has said, they will always obey the last judgement, when it came to the Zamfara issue, they changed the goal post. “There is a candidate in Kano whose nomination we forwarded to INEC, but they changed the nomination and as we speak, we are in court over that. We showed our evidence”. When asked if he is feeling jittery with the crowd the PDP pulled at the rally in Kano and River States he said: “Did you witness the rally in Kano, and can you compare that rally to the one where everyone wears red and uniform that were arranged. The way to know the difference between a rented crowd and an ordinary crowd is to look at the number of people wearing T-shirts and face cap. So, when everybody is wearing Aso ebi, it means there is an event managed. “In a country where the level of poverty is low, if anybody can give you a red cap to wear and a shirt to match, you mean you won’t go? The Kano electorates are the most seasoned voters. They are from the Aminu Kano stock and will take the money from the PDP and vote for Buhari. So, why will I be jittery? “That somebody has money to arrange aso ebi? No, they are the ones who should be jittery. They are also fighting among themselves. It is strange that you are referring to that one and have no recollection. This election is for us and no election can be this easy for us. All we need is one man one vote and we will defeat the PDP. There will be no violence, no fighting. Just the votes which will be counted and we will win”.