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  • PDP raises alarm over militarisation of Southsouth

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm over what it described as the illegal occupation and provocative besiegement of some states in the South South geopolitical zone ahead of the March 9 governorship and state assembly elections.

    Specifically, the main opposition party cited Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River states as places that have been under military siege.

    At a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the alleged siege is to further militarize the South South zone where soldiers will be deployed to suppress voters on election day.

    “This is meant to re-enact the massive rigging of polls for the All Progressives Congress (APC), as was done in the widely discredited February 23 presidential election.

    “However, the PDP warns, in very unequivocal terms, that those who sow the wind should also be ready to reap the whirlwind”, Ologbondiyan said.

    The opposition party spokesman further said it’s clear that after using military to unleash violence, alter results and muscle out fabricated 25 percent ballot for President Muhammadu Buhari across the South South states and other PDP strongholds, the APC now wants to use the military to fight sitting PDP governors, suppress their members and forcefully take over those states.

    Ologbondiyan said, “Nigerians already know how APC leaders from the South South are going around boasting that the military will use violence to give them governorship election triumph, the same way it did during the presidential election, where innocent Nigerians were brutalized and murdered.

    “Nigerians are witnesses to how 13 persons were murdered in Akuku-Toru Local Government in Rivers State, in addition to those killed in Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Emohua Local Government Areas during the presidential election.

     

  • PDP alleges militarisation of Southsouth

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday raised the alarm over what it described as the illegal occupation and provocative siege being laid to in the Southsouth ahead of the March 9 Governorship and State Assembly Election.

    It lists Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River as states under military siege in the zone.

    At a media briefing in Abuja, PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, said the alleged siege is to further militarise the Southsouth zone to pave the way for the suppression of voters on Election Day.

    He said: “This is meant to re-enact the massive rigging of polls for the All Progressives Congress (APC), as was done in the widely discredited February 23 presidential election.

    “However, the PDP warns, in very unequivocal terms, that those who sow the wind should also be ready to reap the whirlwind.

    “It’s clear that after using military to unleash violence, alter results and muscle out fabricated 25 per cent ballot for President Muhammadu Buhari across the SouthSouth states and other PDP strongholds, the APC now wants to use the military to fight sitting PDP governors, suppress their members and forcefully take over those states.”

    The PDP spokesman alleged that APC leaders were boasting to use the security to its advantage, describing the development as unfortunate despite repeated assurances by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, that the military will not be involved in elections.

    He lamented that the elections have gone beyond political parties.

    “On this note, the PDP, ahead of the March 9 elections, cautions the APC and its compromised security agents to note that the people of the Niger Delta are already hurting over the killings of their compatriots during the February 23 election and any further provocation will be a clear recipe for crisis”, Ologbodiyan said.

    The PDP restates its commitment to peaceful elections, but cautioned that nobody has a monopoly of show of strength.

    Describing the Niger Delta people as peace loving, the party noted that they have never, in the history of the nation, allowed themselves to be suppressed or vanquished by oppressive forces.

    The party said: “It’s incontrovertible that the Southsouth is a stronghold of the PDP and that the people are fully mobilised for the March 9 elections.

    “Our members and supporter are in every polling unit, every collation center, all the exit and entry points in the area and would use all legitimate means available in a democracy to defend themselves and their votes.

    “In this regard, any person who yields himself or herself as a tool in the hands of evil, should, therefore, be ready to face the legitimate anger of the people.”

  • Future of PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to bounce back. But, its relevance is not totally ebbing away. The presidential poll has affirmed its status as a formidable opposition party. If the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ignores PDP in its future calculations, it is risky.

    The party was actually down in 2015, following the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan by President Muhammadu Buhari. But, the monumental loss did not herald its eclipse. The party still did well in some by-elections, despite the gale of defections that hit the platform after the poll.

    Also, the party was assailed by leadership crisis as its caretaker chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and erstwhile chairman, Senator Modi Sheriff, were locked in protracted battle of supremacy.

    However, PDP survived the protracted litigation trigged by the leadership tussle. Makarfi successfully organised a national convention that threw up Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman in Abuja.

    Under Secondus, the party received its former members who had left for the APC into its fold. They included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senate President Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, former Kano State Governor Musa Kwakwanso and former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State.

    Secondus also organised a successful convention in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State capital, where Atiku emerged as the presidential candidate.

    Unlike before, Atiku was able to reach amity with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had rejected President Buhari and endorsed him for president.

    PDP leaders were up and doing during the campaigns. They were confident of winning. Unlike the APC, the main opposition was a cohesive platform, although its Ogun State chapter was embroiled in intra-party crisis.

    PDP’s rejection by Nigerians at the presidential poll is a set back. By 2023, it would have been in the opposition for eight years. It is a far cry from the plight of the AD-ACN-ANPP-CPC-APC-in opposition for 16 years.

    However, PDP cannot yet be written off. During the election, it made an in-road into Ondo and Oyo States. Its strongholds-the Southeast and Southsouth-are still intact. The party has produced 33 senators and many House of Representatives members. The party needs to appoint strong legislators as PDP Senate and Reps leaders.

    Many fear that another gale of defections may hit the PDP because of the penchant of politicians for gravitating towards the ruling party.

    On March 9, the party will test its popularity again at the governorship and House of Assembly elections. The presidential election may predict the outcome of the March 9 polls. PDP candidates are likely to triumph at the elections in its strongholds, thereby remaining as a truly opposition party. If it works hard, it may gain additional territories. But, APC will not sleep on guard.

    Finance will be a major hurdle in the post-election period. Outside power, the party may be broke. The national leadership may have to depend on the governors for patronage.

    Atiku has vowed to fight on. But, can he triumph in the temple of justice? Can he upturn the verdict? Time will tell.

    After the general elections, PDP, like the APC, will prepare for the “odd” governorship elections in Kogi, Ondo, Edo and Bayelsa states.

    If the victory of President Buhari is affirmed by the court, PDP will have to wait till 2023. Many factors will shape the presidential election in four years time. Zoning and power shift will be on the front burner.

    After eight years of Buhari in Aso Villa, public opinion may not favour the retention of the PDP presidential slot in the North. The battle for the APC and PDP presidential tickets will shift to the South. Southwest and Southeast will compete for the slots.

    If PDP decides to zone the slot to the North, it will provoke an uproar. Will it zone the slot to the Southwest or Southeast? Time will tell.

    It is a trying time for the PDP. However, its predictable success in some states during the governorship and House of Assembly polls may offer a new ray of hope.

    The solace is that PDP can still bid its time. It is not fading from INEC register. When there is life, there is hope.

  • APC legal team to Atiku: we’re prepared for you

    The legal team of the APC Presidential Campaign Council has told the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar it was fully prepared to defend the President’s victory in court.

    Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the legal team asked the former Vice President and all those who are not at peace with outcome of the Presidential election to seek redress in court as that was the only constitutional thing to do.

    In a communiqué by the Deputy Director, Legal, of the Council, Prof Mamman Lawan Yusufari, the APC legal team condemned the acts of violence that occurred in some parts of the country during the elections.

    It congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari for winning the 2019 presidential election and thanked Nigerians for their overwhelming support.

    It commended the presidential candidates, political parties and their support groups for their general respect for the law in the campaign activities,

    The team also commended INEC for conducting the presidential and National Assembly elections in substantial compliance with the law and condemn the few cases of violence in some parts of the country and calls on the appropriate authorities to deal with the perpetrators in accordance with the law,

    “We calls on interested parties who are not satisfied with the results of the elections to challenge same by following due process of the law and affirms its readiness to defend the resounding victory of President Muhammadu Buhari with all the legal expertise at its disposal,” it stated.

  • Oshiomhole should be concerned about APC’s lost in Edo, says PDP

    n a swift reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, advised Oshiomhole to first address the many problems he has brought upon his party before dabbling in the affairs of Atiku and the PDP

    Ologbondiyan said, “Oshiomhole should be concerned about how he lost his Edo state to the PDP in the February 23 presidential election. What should be agitating their mind is how a national chairman of a ruling party who also has a sitting governor in place lost election in his state to the opposition.

    Read Also; God never destined Atiku to be President, says Oshiomhole

    “Here is a party national chairman that cannot even manage internal democracy within his party. He created problems for his candidates and his own party members were pelting him with water sachets and stones at campaign allies.

    “Oshiomhole should also tell the world on the platform of how many parties President Muhammadu Buhari contested the presidential election for 12 years before he finally won on the platform of the APC in 2015″.

  • PDP raises alarm over militarisation of S/South ahead gov polls

    The Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) has raised the alarm over what it described as the illegal occupation and provocative besiegement of some states in the South South geopolitical zone ahead of the March 9 governorship and state assembly elections.

    Specifically, the main opposition party cited Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River states as places that have been under military siege.

    At a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the alleged siege is to further militarise the South South zone where soldiers will be deployed to suppress voters on March 9.

    “This is meant to re-enact the massive rigging of polls for the All Progressives Congress (APC), as was done in the widely discredited February 23 presidential election.

    “However, the PDP warns, in very unequivocal terms, that those who sow the wind should also be ready to reap the whirlwind”, Ologbondiyan said.

    The opposition party spokesman further said it’s clear that after using military to unleash violence, alter results and muscle out fabricated 25 percent ballot for President Muhammadu Buhari across the South South states and other PDP strongholds, the APC now wants to use the military to fight sitting PDP governors, suppress their members and forcefully take over those states.

    Continuing Ologbondiyan said: “Nigerians already know how APC leaders from the South South are going around boasting that the military will use violence to give them governorship election triumph, the same way it did during the presidential election, where innocent Nigerians were brutalised and murdered.

    “Nigerians are witnesses to how 13 persons were murdered in Akuku-Toru Local Government in Rivers State, in addition to those killed in Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Emohua Local Government Areas during the presidential election.

    “Also, the public already knows how the Minister of Transport and the Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, used soldiers to hold an INEC official hostage, changed the election results and allocated fabricated figures for President Buhari.

    “In Akwa-Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been using soldiers to suppress and harass the people, in spite of assurances by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, that the military will not be involved in elections

    “In Bayelsa state, soldiers were freely used against the people. In the process, the photographer to the State governor was murdered. The Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state was even kidnapped.

    “In Brass, East Senatorial district of the state, it was a war situation as the military took over the electoral process and even declared winners. Soldiers were deployed to the remotest villages where the voters were suppressed and results altered in favour of President Buhari.

    “Now that it is clear to all that the 2019 election is not between the PDP and the APC, but a war between the state apparatus of power and the PDP. The PDP cannot continue to fold its hands in the face of these killings and suppression of voters by the APC.

    “On this note, the PDP, ahead of the March 9 elections, cautions the APC and its compromised security agents to note that the people of the Niger Delta are already hurting over the killings of their compatriots during the February 23 election and any further provocation will be a clear recipe for crisis”.

    The PDP restates its commitment to peaceful elections but cautioned nobody has a monopoly of show of strength.

    The party said its incontrovertible the South South is a stronghold of the PDP and that the people are fully mobilised for the March 9 elections.

  • Security agencies uncover plot by PDP, others to discredit poll

    Although it has opted for legal action over last Saturday’s election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has other plans, The Nation has learnt.

    With some opposition leaders, the party seeks to discredit the presidential election by:

    • mobilising international and local groups to reject the results; and
    • encourage mass protests

    A former president and some retired generals are believed to be backing the plot.

    The destabilisation plot was hatched at a meeting on Tuesday night in Abuja, according to sources, who pleaded not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter.

    It was gathered that roles were assigned to various groups and leaders at the meeting.

    A principal officer of the National Assembly is to “poach INEC” for vital documents.

    The Nation has stumbled on some documents of the Action Plan.

    One, titled:  “Re: Fresh plots by opposition”, coded and addressed to “The Principal” whose identity was not disclosed,  said the defeated presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, might be “in the forefront of the process”.

    The document said: “Deliberate effort to delegitimise the results through the following deliberate effort as suggested by a former President and other principal opposition leaders to deploy these groups: (a) Civil society groups (b) Ohanaeze, (c) Afenifere (d) Middle Belt Forum, (e) Students, women groups, observation groups and (f) other groups, i.e. retired Generals.

    “International organisations with copies of reverse logistics and copies they collected through their agents which is not a true reflection of the result by INEC- EU, AU, ECOWAS, etc

    Other plans include:

    • International and local media to rally round the opposition (Michael Mozysky, etc)
    • Situation room of opposition—The true story
    • Other briefs from the Northern flanks of the centre

    A top security source, who spoke in confidence, said:  “Some opposition leaders met in Abuja on Tuesday night till the early hours of Wednesday on how to disorganise the country. The meeting followed their failed bid to stop the collation of results by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    “We have intelligence clues on their plans. The first peg of the plot by the opposition is to discredit the outcome of the presidential poll at all cost.  They have decided to engage international and local media and support groups in this regard. The second part borders on civil disobedience and protest marches nationwide by commissioned ethnic groups and some civil society organisations. “

    “And a principal officer in the National Assembly has been mandated to obtain relevant documents and other logistics details which can be used at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal and for media propaganda.”

    Apparently in line with the plans, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) announced yesterday that it will start a protest against the release of the results.

    Addressing a briefing in Abuja, the CUPP 1st National spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, said the mass action was informed by the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is a “carrier of stolen mandate.”

  • PDP, APC disagree at Collation Centre

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives party disagreed yesterday at the International Collation Centre (ICC), venue of the National Collation of the results of last Saturday’s President Election.

    The bone of contention was a request by the opposition party that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must project what the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) captured as accreditation figure before the collation can continue.

    The PDP queried the non-usage of the SCRs in the conduct of the presidential election in some part of the country.

    But the All Progress Congress Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, SAN, urged the PDP to follow the right channel in laying its complaints, stressing that the gathering was primarily for collation purpose and not to entertain complaints.

    INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu, also advised the PDP to approach the the commission’s headquarters to lodge its complaints.

    Speaking yesterday at the Collation Centre, PDP agent, Mr. Osita Chidoka, queried why the SCRs should be made compulsory in some part of the country and not compulsory in other parts.

    Chidoka, who was categorical about results from Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, said the party has documented its observations as an official petition to the commission.

    He said: “The issue before us, Mr. Chairman, is what we feel strongly about and the chairman of the PDP has written you a petition. We are worried that the promise you made, the commitment you made, and INEC made, that as we are doing this collation of results, you will give us the details of accreditation captured by the card reader in the country.

    “Yesterday (Monday) my colleague raised the issue and we thought that when we come back this morning as we are listening to the states, we will be seeing the accreditation by the states by the card readers.

    “This, Mr. Chairman, I’ll like to be on record that we want to see the accreditation for Bauchi state, for Borno and Yobe states in particular and of course, for the rest of the country because the number as we are seeing, it seems to me that we live in two countries.

    “Why people in the south have issues with the SCRs, why complaints were all over the place, we seem to have quiet and peaceful elections in places where the people have complained of severe cases of insecurity and harassments by the military and bandits.

    “So, we would like you Mr. Chairman and I forward this letter to you to say that we will appeal that if it is possible, Mr. Chairman that before we proceed to the next stage, you should please, project to us what the card reader has captured as the accreditation in these states.

    “We are supposed to read from the card readers, the electronic collation as against the manual information that we are getting to process information here. While it isn’t yet signed into law in your guidelines it was made clear that no voting should take place where there are no card readers. So, Mr. Chairman, we must appeal to you that we would like you to project the accreditation, as done by the card readers.

    “Please, if any of your staff is available, he can please, take a copy of this letter from the chairman of the PDP saying that what we are doing here will require us to have the accreditation as done by the electronic card reader.”

    In his response, the INEC boss urged the protesting party to submit its letter to the commission’s headquarters, assuring that the commission will surely look into the petition and respond accordingly.

    Yakubu said: “Thank you Mr.Chidoka, but there is a procedure for submitting correspondence to the Commission.

    “We haven’t shut down our office. This is the International Conference Centre where we are using as Collation Centre. Kindly submit your letter to the office, it will be acknowledged. Your letter will now be studied and we will respond, accordingly. I believe that there are details in the letter that we need to study.”

    Urging the PDP to route its letter appropriately, Keyamo said the APC also has some complaints but has chosen to follow the proper channel.

    He said: “I just want contract to what my colleague of the PDP has said. Now, my simple reaction to this is that what we are doing here is guided by law and regulations of INEC.

    “In the regulations of INEC, Clause 32 to 35 of the regulations clearly states the power of the Chairman of INEC in this sitting at the Collation centre and those powers does not involve the type of inquisition my friend is asking for.

    “The details my friend is asking for amounts to inquisition into the results submitted to the Chairman of INEC. There is a proper channel to seek for inquisition into how many people were captured by the card readers and all that, compared to the results.

    “That is not the power and duty of INEC Chairman sitting at the Collation Centre and those proceedings and powers are clearly stated.

    “So, we have our own complaints about a lot of open rigging and massive thumb printing in Cross River and Rivers. So, we have a lot of complaints but we are only keeping our peace because we know the eight procedures to take to submit our complaints.”

  • BMO to PDP: stop promoting ethnic hatred

    •Group asks Atiku to accept defeat

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has asked the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to stop fanning the ember of ethnic hatred and bitterness over the eventual outcome of the Presidential and national Assembly elections.

    The group also asked the PDP Presidental candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubkar to consider picking his phone and calling President Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate on his impending victory, saying doing so will earn him a place in Nigeria’s history without paying for it.

    In a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the pro-Buhari group said calling the President remain the best option for the former Vice president rather than toeing the path of the hawks in the opposition party.

    According to them, “with the trend of result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is crystal clear that President Buhari has the mandate of majority of Nigerians, who voted last Saturday, for a second term in office.

    “We also know that within the first few hours of collation of results at national level, PDP had issued a statement rejecting a result that had not been fully announced, even at a time when virtually all international observer groups, including that of the Commonwealth, had issued preliminary reports showing that the Presidential and National Assembly elections had been largely peaceful and transparent in spite of few pockets of violence.

    “So, rather than listen to people that are bent on heating up the polity, we believe that this is the ideal time for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to take a cue from the man he loved to quote – former President Goodluck Jonathan, who called the then candidate Buhari when it became apparent that Buhari had won the election.

    “We are convinced that he would earn the respect of more Nigerians without having to pay for it by making that call to the President as early as possible.”

    Condemning the action of the PDP in rejecting results of an election that were still being announced, the group asked the PDP to desist from stoking ethnic hatred and bitterness over the outcome of the elections.

    They said: “Our attention has been drawn to ongoing efforts by PDP sympathisers online to tarnish the President’s hard-earned electoral victory through abusive words targeted at a section of Nigerians.

    “This is ludicrous and it would be necessary for PDP leaders to stop their supporters from painting President Buhari’s impending landslide victory in tribal colours in social media posts.

    “The truth is that even though President Buhari secured a large chunk of votes from his traditional strongholds in Northern Nigeria, he did far better this time than in 2015 in areas that were considered as PDP’s power base in Southern Nigeria.

    “So, he clearly got a pan-Nigerian mandate in a free, fair and credible election that had two distinguished politicians from the same Fulani ethnic stock as the major candidates.”

     

  • PDP demands stoppage of collation of presidential election results by INEC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday made some tough demands from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    It demanded an immediate halt to the ongoing collation of results of Saturday’s presidential election and the restoration of voided votes in some states by the commission.

    It said the collation of results must be stopped until data from the Smart Card Reader (SCRs) accreditation at the polling units have been made available to all the parties in the election.

    At a media briefing in Abuja Tuesday, the Deputy Director-General (Admin) of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr. Tanimu Turaki, the party cited manipulations, rigging and over-voting in some states by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “The PDP predicates its demand on available evidence to the effect that data from the card readers are being reconfigured to suit the manipulations, rigging and over-voting already carried out during the election in some states by the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

    Turaki added that the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, had already communicated the party’s position to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    “We have evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been seriously tampered with and manipulated”, Turaki said.

    The party also demanded an immediate cancellation of results of the presidential election in Borno, Yobe, Zamafara and Nasarawa States, as submitted by INEC’s presiding officers.

    It called for the conduct of fresh elections in the affected states.

    Continuing, the PDP chieftain said: “In Yobe, the total number of votes submitted as cast was more than the number of accredited voters.

    “This is a clear case of over-voting which, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, renders the election null and void. In such instance, the law provides for another election on a day to be fixed by INEC.

    “In Zamfara state, no actual voting took place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the entire state. There was an arrest in Shinkafi Local Government, where an APC member was caught thump-printing ballot papers inside his house.

    “Results from the presiding officer from Zamfara were concocted and allocated according to the wishes of the leadership of the APC and INEC.

    “The PDP therefore demands the outright deletion of the results from Zamfara from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible presidential election in Zamfara State.

    “Also in Borno state, there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders. We also demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible presidential election in Borno State.

    “In Nasarawa, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 157, 000 lawful and valid votes which were unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results from the field.

    “Similarly, the PDP demands an immediate restoration of our over 79, 000 valid votes which were unlawfully cancelled by INEC in Kogi state and the announcement of the authentic results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes.

    “In the FCT, the PDP demands the restoration of 27,000 valid votes unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and a declaration of the authentic result, inclusive of our restored 27,000 votes.

    “In Plateau, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 30,000 lawful and valid votes, which were unlawfully cancelled particularly in Jos North and the declaration of the genuine results as delivered at the polling units inclusive of our 30,000 restored votes.”