The People’s Democratic Party ( PDP ) has said that an alleged conspiracy between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig Saturday’s supplementary election in some states will fail.
The states listed by INEC for supplementary election include Kano, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi and Sokoto states, following electoral body’s declaration of the March 9 governorship and state assembly elections inconclusive in the affected states.
At a media briefing in Abuja Friday, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan described the alleged alliance between INEC and APC to manipulate the poll as unsavoury.
The PDP noted that INEC is proceeding to conduct supplementary election in Bauchi without completing the collation of the March 9 governorship election; to enable it determines the margin of lead.
According to the PDP, the alleged anomaly being created by INEC was geared to cause confusion and muddle-up the Bauchi electoral process and pave the way for allocation of fictitious votes to the APC.
The party further stated that it was in possession of reports of how the INEC leadership allegedly connived with the APC to delay the collation of results from Tafawa Balewa local government, and then stampeded the courts to halt the process in an attempt to ambush the supplementary election.
“This informs why INEC hurriedly and shamelessly jettisoned its statutory independence and implemented the unconstitutional Exparte Order to halt the collation of results in Bauchi and Adamawa states, even before the order was enrolled and served on it”, Ologbondiyan said.
The main opposition party cautioned INEC to note that it already has the figures of votes delivered at the polling units in the first ballot.
Ologbondiyan continued, “We also have figure of voters with PVCs in the areas where INEC plans to conduct supplementary elections. Therefore any attempt by INEC and the APC to pad the results to favor the APC will be firmly resisted.
“The PDP is in a comfortable lead in Bauchi and nothing can change this reality, irrespective of supplementary election, in which we are also set to win.
“In Adamawa, we have also been informed of how the APC and INEC are conniving to cause confusion and alter the figures of already collated results of the governorship election won by the PDP.
“The situation has become so pathetic that the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) is yet to officially state the commission’s position on whether the supplementary election will hold or not.
“The PDP reminds INEC that it has the figures of the already collated results in Adamawa and warns that any attempt to tamper with such will be faced with dire consequences.
“In Sokoto State, the PDP alerts Nigerians to the invasion of the state by heavily armed thugs imported by the APC from neighbouring states of Kano and Zamfara to unleash violence, cause confusion and help the APC to rig the supplementary governorship election, under official protection of compromised security agencies.
“However, the PDP wants INEC, the APC, their thugs and the compromised security personnel to note that the people of Sokoto state are determined to assert themselves in this election and anybody attempting to subvert their will would be doing so at his or her own risk.
“In Rivers state, our party holds that the shifting of the collation of results by INEC to April 2-5, 2019, without providing any reason, is a calculated attempt to create room for their partners, the APC, to engage in judicial manipulations or abracadabra to scuttle the election already won by the PDP.
“The PDP cautions that such shenanigan by INEC is highly provocative, especially as the people of Rivers state are already aware of all the results delivered from the polling units, which puts the PDP in clear lead. Any alteration will spell doom for our democracy given the place Rivers State occupies in our national economy.
“Furthermore, the PDP charges the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure strict adherence to the use of card readers in all the Supplementary elections. Reports abound of how INEC jettisoned the card readers in previous elections, particularly in certain states earmarked for rigging for the APC, thereby leading to all manners of electoral manipulations. This must not be allowed in the supplementary polls.
“Finally, the PDP states that it is in good stead in Bauchi, Kano, Sokoto, Benue, Adamawa and Plateau states and as such, will use all legitimate means to ensure that nobody rigs out our candidates in the supplementary elections”.
