PDP/Presidency behind election postponement plot -----APC
(Nigeria) The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP and the Presidency of orchestrating the ongoing campaign
for election postponement, despite their serial denial and the phantom
assurances that they are ready for the polls.
APC in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos, by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said ''There is no clearer indication
that the PDP and the Presidency are the puppeteers behind the election shift
campaign than Wednesday's newspaper advertorial plainly campaigning for the
polls to be shifted.
''This advert, which has the picture of President Goodluck
Jonathan and the logo of the PDP - meaning they will be the sole beneficiaries
of the postponement they are seeking - leaves no one in doubt that the ruling
party and the presidency are pathologically dishonest, deliberately deceptive
and chronically terrified about the elections,'' it said.
The APC said now that all pretences are off and the sponsors
of the election postponement campaign have been unveiled, Nigerians must reject
them and their campaign.
''The campaign, which is hinged on the fact that many Nigerians
have not collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC), is not sincere. If it
is, the PDP and the Presidency would have instead been urging Nigerians to go
all out and collect their PVCs so the election can hold. Why is this so
impossible for them to do?
''Like we said earlier, what prevents the federal government
from declaring a three-day public holidays to give Nigerians the opportunity to
collect their PVCs? Why is it that only the PDP and its sponsored groups and
individuals are the ones leading the campaign for election postponment, even as
our party, the APC, has been campaigning for Nigerians to go and collect their
PVCs?
''Is it not instructive that at least 26 political parties
have joined the no-postponement campaign, while the PDP/Presidency, as well as
the lick-spittle individuals and groups who have been compromised one way or
another, continue to beat the drums of election shift?'' the party said.
It wondered why the PDP/Presidency will be second-guessing
the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which has said it is ready
to go ahead with the elections, and that it will be distributing PVCs until the
eve of the election.
While urging its members and supporters in particular, and
all Nigerians in general to remain vigilant and be firm in saying 'no' to
election postponement, the APC appealed to the Chief Justice of the Federation,
CJN, to ensure that the courts are not used as a tool to sabotage the elections
and indeed the nation's democracy.
''We know that the next frontier in the ongoing battle by
the PDP/Presidency to get our candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, disqualified
and have the elections postponent, is the court. We know they will seek to
secure spurious injunctions to scuttle the elections, following the footsteps
of the Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, in 1993. This is why we are
appealing to the CJN,'' APC said.
The party added: ''For the avoidance of doubt, we are ready
for the elections and we will not, under any circumstance, support any shift in
the dates for the elections, which were fixed more than a year ago.
''If the PDP and the Presidency are not afraid of anything,
we challenge them to come out today to denounce the campaign for election
postponement, dissociate themselves from it and announce unequivocally that
they are ready for the elections. Failure to do that, they stand accused of
working hard to sabotage the elections and truncate the nation's democracy.''
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