PDP denies Oshiomhole’s claim of conniving with INEC to shift elections

…Accuses Buhari of giving election role to military

…Sack INEC chairman, kill democracy, Dogara warns Presidency

Tunde Opalana Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vehemently denied statement credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, that the opposition party connived with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2019 elections dates. The party described Oshiomhole’s claim as reckless, irresponsibly mischievous and a sign that the ruling party was embattled and for the first time in Nigeria’s political history, a ruling party playing victim. Addressing the press on PDP position on the state of the nation after the shocking postponement of the elections, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, warned the APC-led Presidency to shelve the idea of sacking the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, or truncate the nation’s democracy. Calling the attention of well-meaning Nigerians and the international community to the incendiary statements made by President Muhammadu Buhari, and Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the national caucus of their party, earlier on Monday, the party said their statements are inflammatory. Dogara, who is one of the technical advisers to Atiku Abubakar, said: “At the meeting, the President said: “Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb the election, may be that would be the last unlawful action you would take. I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless. I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life.” “These statements clearly indicate that our democracy has become the victim of a full blown dictatorship, when one considers that a democratically elected President would give a directive that is in clear violation of the laws of the land which by his oath of office he is to defend and protect. “In view of this statement by the president, it is obvious that the military has been given a central role and coopted into the conduct of the election despite the fact that they have no constitutional role in our electoral process”. He castigated Oshiomhole for his claims that the PDP was given prior notice of the postponement of the elections. Denying this statement, Dogara said: “We categorically deny these false claims and unnecessary blackmail and regard the President’s statement as a call for extra-judicial killings considering the fact that there are adequate provisions in our laws to address electoral offenses.
“It should be noted that our party chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, was the first to call for an inquiry into why the elections were postponed last Saturday. In reality, we support a genuine and transparent probe into why the presidential and National Assembly elections could not hold. We also hope that the president’s inflammatory statement is not a threat aimed at intimidating the electoral commission. “We also strongly condemn Mr. Oshiomhole’s false, mischievous and inflammatory claims against our party, when he said INEC colluded with PDP to abort last week’s elections. This is a very surprising statement considering the fact that the Federal government controls every institution and agency involved in the electoral process, including the CBN, Nigerian Airforce, Aviation authorities amongst others. “From our position, we strongly believe that the deliberate delivery of election materials to the wrong electoral centers, cancellation of flights, and other actions that undermined the logistics arrangement of INEC were deliberately done to sabotage and manipulate the process”. “For a ruling party to have acted in this manner, the PDP said this is the first time that Nigeria witnessed a ruling party play victim, which is a clear indication that they have lost the plot. “Evidently, their recent actions and statements clearly show they are panicking and desperate to cling onto power, even when the people have rejected them”, he said. The party implored Nigerians to employ every legitimate means to resist attempts by the APC and the Federal government to undermine and compromise the electoral process and truncate our democracy.