The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent comments on the electoral process under the current Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have raised fresh issues on the credibility of the February 2019 Presidential election.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP noted that in demanding that INEC and the Police should ensure that the will of the people prevailed in credible elections going forward, Buhari has admitted that preceding elections under the current dispensation have been less than credible.
“This is including the recent elections in Bayelsa and Kogi where the All Progressives Congress (APC) turned the respective states to theatres of war, yet Mr. President congratulated the ‘winners’ of those charades.
“In his own words, in a meeting with INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, at the Presidential Villa, Mr. President said, “our elections must be done in violent-free atmosphere. The process must be free, fair, decent and devoid of intimidations and malpractices. It is the duty of the police to accomplish that and this is what I expect in the elections immediately ahead and going forward”.
“Mr. President added, “those that you declare as winners must be candidates that the people have chosen. Democracy is about free will, and the will of the people must be allowed to prevail”.
“This is a weighty verdict by Mr. President on the huge electoral fraud perpetrated in the 2019 elections by his party, APC.
“Though the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Presidential Election stands, in total obedience to our laws, the fact remains that the violent manipulations of the 2019 elections in favour of the APC and its candidates will continue to stare our nation in the face,” the statement read in part.
According to the party, Buhari’s remark showed that, in their innermost conscience, beneficiaries of manipulated polls are always confronted with the truth.
PDP tasked the management of INEC and the Police to come clean on the details of their recent meeting with President Buhari which is coming ahead of about 28 impending runoffs and by-elections scheduled for this month.
“Our party holds that INEC is an independent electoral commission whose activities and processes are clearly governed by the law and extant rules and not by the dictates or prescriptions of the President.
“Mr. President should therefore steer clear of INEC while the commission must assert its independence and desist from going to the Presidential villa for instructions on elections. Nigerians have their doubts if the hugely compromised INEC under Professor Yakubu can be anything independent.
“However, if, indeed, Mr President is committed to ensuring free, fair and credible electoral process, he should reintroduce the 8th Assembly’s Electoral Act Amendment bill, which he refused to sign, and make a fresh commitment to sign it into law immediately it is retooled to meet current exigencies and passed by the current National Assembly.
“He should order the prosecution of security agents involved in the invasion of polling centres and shooting at voters in recent elections.
“He should also reciprocate the benevolence of Nigerians by recreating an electoral atmosphere like the one that brought him into office in 2015.
“After that, Mr. President should focus on seeking for solutions to the worsening economic and security challenges that have befallen our nation under his incompetent administration,” PDP demanded.