The Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, on Monday expressed fears of participating in the upcoming gubernatorial
elections being planned for Edo and Ondo states in 2020.
It also re-echoed its
disappointment in the conduct of the just concluded Kogi and Bayelsa
governorship elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
PDP, therefore, tasked the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to embark on electoral
amendment through the National Assembly to address most of the challenges in
conducting elections in the country.
The PDP National Chairman, Prince
Uche Secondus said this while addressing INEC delegation who came to carry out
a routine verification exercise at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.
While addressing some of the
operatives of the electoral umpire, Secondus alleged that the INEC integrity
was at stake given the trajectory of elections it has conducted so far in the
country.
He pointed out that some of the
INEC staff have compromised their offices.
In his words, “INEC as presently
constituted has integrity questions. Some of the staff have compromised their
offices.
“We advise that INEC should go
back to the drawing board and consider the past elections it has conducted.
“Even INEC needs a reform. We
can’t continue this way. Is either we practice the American model or adopt the
Egyptian model where soldiers shall be part and parcel of the election process.
Further, the PDP National
Chairman affirmed it was time for INEC to submit the necessary amendments to
the National Assembly so that an improved legal framework can be put in place
for a free and fair election to be achieved.
He, however, added that the
conduct of the 2019 general elections set Nigeria backwards.
Some of the bitter lessons,
according to Secondus, are: thuggery, killing, militarisation of voting scenes
and disruptions of voting process.
Others are the alleged INEC
involvement in operating the APC agenda, brigandage, intimidation, coercion and
manipulation of results, hijacking of election materials and deployment of
military helicopters among others.
It was on this premise that the
PDP advocated for the legalization of electronic voting and ban on military
participation in elections.
In his reaction, the INEC Deputy
Director, Election and Party Monitoring who headed the delegation, Musa Husunu
said all the comments, observations and concerns of the PDP would be
considered.
Husunu, however, reeled out
things the INEC team came to do as a matter of routine verification exercise to
include evidence of office headquarters, 5 copies of the party’s constitution,
list of NEC committee members, physical presence of NEC members, membership
registration and books of account.
But the PDP averred that what
happened in Osun, Ekiti, Bayelsa and Kogi states were not democratic enough to
guarantee future participation in elections by the opposition political
parties.
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