The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

  • Peace Panel meets Atiku

    MEMBERS of the Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee (NPC) yesterday held talks with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

    Other members of the Committee with the former Head of State at the meeting included the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Matthew Kukah, Archbishop of Abuja Diocese John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Rev. Fr Atta Barkindo of the NPC Secretariat.

    The meeting, which was held behind closed door, was convened following Atiku’s decision to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory at the tribunal.

    Read also: Oshiomhole to Atiku: we’ll meet you in court

    Speaking shortly after the meeting, Gen. Abubakar said the mission of committee was to douse the tension in the aftermath of the presidential election.

    Also at the meeting were PDP leaders, including Atiku’s running mate Peter Obi; Senate President Bukola Saraki; PDP Chairman Uche Secondus and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

  • How INEC ‘rebuffed’ PDP’s attempt to stop Buhari’s victory

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tried unsuccessfully to get the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to pronounce Muhammadu Buhari president-elect. Vincent Ikuomola, who witnessed the drama at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, reports.

    The presidential election was full of drama. The agent for the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Osita Chidoka, appealed against announcing the winner of the election.

    Chidoka pinned his appeal on the purported disparity in figures reeled out from the total vote count.

    He also raised issues about the non-use of the smart card readers in some parts of the country. Chidoka raised four areas which he felt the chairman should consider and stop the process of announcing the winner of the poll.

    He said: “Mr. Chairman, I have four comments to make and I will sit down. Remember, what you just educated us on now, the number of voter register you published on the 21 February and the one that was used today for the elections, has a difference of 1.669million, it was 84million in February 21 and today for what we have seen as registered voter across the states put together is 82,334,107. So there is a difference of 1,669million missing from the voter register. So if you keep that one side and go back to the total valid vote cast, which you explained, particularly, Mr. Chairman, I will let you to note that in Oyo State, 137,000 people are missing from the register, in Imo State, 234,000 are missing from the register, in Abia, 139,000 and in Nasarawa, 108,000, and Lagos 256,000. These are the big states.

    “For the total valid vote cast of 27million and the total invalid vote of 1.2million, we get a total vote cast of 28 million and a total accreditation of 29million, there is a difference of  750,000 and I hear you say it is about 2% . So we put that number on a second table.

    “And then we go to the issue of the cancelled vote. Mr. Chairman, of the cancelled vote, the cancelled votes impacted 2.7 million registered voters. And if you look at the 2.793,819,6 registered voters that were impacted, the difference is 1.6 million, the 750,000 and the 2.7 million people that were impacted, it is about 5.1million votes. 5.1million votes is greater than 3.9 million votes. And I want you to know that from your summation, the APC candidate is leading by 3.9 million votes.

    “I also want you to note Mr. Chairman, that as a fundamental root of this election what you told at the beginning of the process is that where there is no card reader verification, that election is null, it doesn’t exist and we have on record many states where there are votes without card readers. So Mr. Chairman, we ask you to review the votes in Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa and Katsina. We have detailed our local governments where this card reader was not used and it is at the fundamental of this election and there may be other states, we don’t want to go into details because we are of time, we don’t want to bug you with the 36 states.

    “I also think that it is important when you mentioned that 35% voter turnout in this election, 35% is a fair number but it is strange to me that some state have 52% voter turnout, 55% in Jigawa, 40% in Yobe and there was a consistent over 40% voter turnout in some parts of the country. I don’t think it means they may be political aware and more conscious than the rest of the country but again, it forces us to look at the issue of the card reader. Where the card reader was used there were many issues that made it difficult for large quantity of people to vote. So I want to urge you Mr. Chairman, by the explanation I have given and the number I have brought together showing that there is 5.1 million vote in question, that you do not go ahead and declare the winner of this election. That you will call for a review of these areas and possibly call for a rerun in the areas where there was no use of card readers. This is why we asked you to bring out the data of what your card readers say. Our own tabulation told us that there is only about 23 million votes that possibly went through the card reader, maximum 24 million because we told our agents to tabulate for us those areas where they use card readers and our tabulation tells us about 24 million. With almost 29 million voters, again another 5 million is in question, we think did not go through card readers.

    “So, Mr. Chairman, I would like you to give careful consideration to my thoughts. These views are made as you said they are preliminary because we are just gathering this data direct from our own situation room but as we progress, depending on what you decide today, we will be making available more detailed information about this process. But I want to say that the PDP, as their agent, I am requesting you that Mr. Chairman you should not go ahead to announce the winner in this election.”

    Yakubu, however, said the votes cancelled were done in accordance with the law.

    He stressed that in the areas where votes were outrightly cancelled, the law was not violated.

    Besides, he doubted the existence of 5.1 million votes, which the PDP agent claimed existed.

    He said: “I want to respond in two ways, first the assertion that there are 5.1 million voters who could not vote and did not vote simply on account of the failure of the smart card reader. And you are right that our guideline and regulations provide for repeat elections where card readers fail. And we did so in a number of states, in Abia for instance; we did so, and in Bayelsa, quiet a number of Local Government had to repeat the elections on Sunday, we did so in several other states. But based on the figure we have seen of cancelled elections, we have disaggregated and decomposed these figures and realised that quiet a number of those figures are from places where the card readers was deliberately circumvented plus 47 of our regulations and guidelines are very clear, where the card reader is deliberately circumvented you write zero and proceed with the election, then in that case you can’t consider the votes in those area truly cancelled votes. Yes they are cancelled votes but they are deserved cancelled votes and before we finalised on the guidelines and regulations, we threw it open to Nigerians and we received comments and citizens before finalising on that.

    “So the figure that you quoted if it is from the process that took place on Saturday, if you carefully decompose these figures, you at our regulations and guidelines, and look at the provisions where the card reader is deliberately circumvented, then count zero and proceed, you may not arrive at that figure. Exactly, the commission has not arrived at that figure.

    “Secondly, you raise issues about places where the voter turnout was 49%, 55% as against the national average of 35% . 35.6% is the national average but remember that in this matter, there is no sugar cube equality in terms of participation of citizens in elections across the federation.

    “So in some places, you have 40%,50% but by the time we do the national average, it gives you what we call the national, so the 35.6% is the national.

    So if you don’t like sugar cube equality, I will say Maggie cube equality, there is no Maggie cube equality in this respect.

    There are other issues that I think since we are both speaking on the basis of preliminary findings; we better rest this at the level of preliminary findings. The work of making our electoral system robust will not end with these 2019 elections. In fact, from tomorrow, the commission will start work on 2023 general elections. So these suggestions will be very useful for the future.”

    Yakubu noted that the cancelled votes were insignificant and would have no effect on the final outcome of the poll.

    “In relation to the issues raised, there are specifically three of them that the commission wishes to make a preliminary statement on. We say preliminary statement because during collation we have not had all the time in the world to look at these issues in depth.

    “The first one is that the figures of accredited voters in relation to the vote cast were not adding up in one or two instances. We have noticed that and our preliminary investigation and analysis revealed that there are a number of figures that were coming from the field and we’re adding up and states were also adding up for a hundred and seventy-six thousand locations nationwide as polling units and voting points. From there the figures were added up first at the ward level, which we have 8809 nationwide from there to the local government where we have 774 and then the state declaration or collation Centres and FCT, making 37 before coming up to Abuja. From what we have seen the disparity cumulatively is less than 2%. It is not that substantial really.

    “Secondly, we also very strongly believe that the widespread incidence of ballot box snatching particularly in many areas after voting means that the data on the smart card readers but not backed up by actual ballot because the ballot are either hijacked, burnt down or destroyed. Therefore, the information on the smart card readers is likely to be higher than actual ballot.

    “But this is only by way of preliminary investigation. Yes we believed that there have been cancellations, however, in the case of the presidential election, the cancellation does not affect the conclusion of the process.

    On the number of registered voters viz-a-viz the figures released by the commission, yes we noticed that only in two states, Yobe and Akwa Ibom that the figures actually tally. But if you look at all the reports from all the states collation officers, they referred to total number of registered voters as collated, it is only written in bracket as collated not necessarily the total figure on the voter register we give to the states. So, because as I said they are taking from a process and that process keeps growing from one state to another, sometimes discrepancies of this nature are likely to happen. They happened in all the off season elections we have conducted, we have seen them but on the basis of observation that you have made, we looked at these figures very carefully, they don’t affect the total number of persons who voted in the election. They are well below the number of PVCs collected, in fact the voter turnout for the 2019 general elections, from the analysis we just conducted it is 35.66% that is the percentage of the voter national turnout.

    “A request was made about opening up of the commission’s hard end so that information from the smart card readers, particularly accreditation of voters can be used to verify, cross check actual vote cast in the elections.

    “And I am happy to note that the person who made the comment didn’t make the comment as a matter of right under the law rather he made the comment as a matter of openness and transparency. Since the law described the processes by which results are collated and transmitted and also the instrument conform to be used for that purpose, we believe that this discussion can continue after the conclusion of this process because you know something that should truncate this process until we are able to determine those issues.

    “Now, if we are to continue to discuss all these issues we will continue to discuss them ad infinito, there is no end to all these issues and discussions. So, we have taken note of all the observations made; we will take them into consideration, but for the sake of the process for today, I crave your indulgence to go to the main substance of why we are gathered here today. “

     

  • PDP calls for cancellation election in Kwara

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State yesterday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the results of the last Saturday presidential and National Assembly election in the state.

    Its chairman, Kola Shittu said this in Ilorin, the state capital, while addressing reporters on the outcome of the election.

    He  said the party was ready to employ legal means to redress what he descibe as manifest irregularities that characterised the elections across the three senatorial districts.

    Shittu  who was flanked by other executive members of the party,  said the elections were marred by electoral malpractices, malfunctioning of 90 percent of card readers, multiple voting as well as over- voting.

    He said: “We call on INEC to cancel the election because its outcome does not reflect the wishes of the people”, he said, adding : “We also received report of how APC agents made use of unclaimed PVCs to vote at some polling units across the State particularity within Kwara Central. Also, many of the local observers accredited by INEC to monitor the election were APC members.

    “Additionally, prior to the day of the election, the Federal Government backed APC made some retrogressive and undemocratic moves, using state apparatus to intimidate and arrest some of our members and supporters in some parts of the state.”

    Asked if the party was ready to approach  the tribunal for redress, the PDP chairman said once a political party announces its dissociation from an election result,  there are procedures for it to follow.

     

  • Dickson visits family of PDP leader killed in electoral violence

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, yesterday visited the family of the late Seidougha Taridi, the Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was killed by gunmen in army uniform during the last elections to condole with the family.

    Dickson’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, in a statement said that the governor was accompanied in the visit by top officials of the Bayelsa State Government and the leaders of the Bayelsa State Council in the visit.

    In the entourage of the Governor were the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, PDP State Chairman, Moses Cleopas, winner of Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency, Prof Steve Azaiki, and winner of Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Douye Diri, Commissioner for Agriculture, Doodei Week, Special Adviser on Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Douye Douglas-Naingba, among others.

    Dickson said that the state government, the PDP and the state were saddened by the gruesome murder of the PDP Ward Leader in the community by men in Army uniform feared to be soldiers.

    He described Taridi’s death as shocking and painful saying it was a needless case of cold-blooded murder of an innocent man, who was not involved in any incident near a polling unit but was killed in his own house in his toilet by soldiers.

    He said that Taridi’s killing was not just cold-blooded but also a collective assault on the Bayelsa and her people.

    He stressed that the late Taridi was in his house when soldiers were invited to gun him down, and a Government House Photographer, Reginald Dei, who survived the attack.

    He assured the grieving family of the determination of the government to ensure that those, who perpetrated the heinous acts were brought to justice.

    The governor said that his administration inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to formally investigate and document the violence that rocked the elections in parts of Bayelsa for posterity.

    He said: “We grieve with all of you and the entire Oweikorogha community, the party and the entire state grieves with you because this gruesome cold blooded murder shouldn’t have happened.

    “There was no need for it. He was not fighting with anybody, he was not armed in any way, was never near even a polling station, he was not by way near electoral materials. He was in his own house, in his parlour and people came, they were invited, soldiers were invited to gun him down in the privacy of his own home.

    “This is not just a gruesome act of terminating the live of a promising young man, it is a collective assault on our state and that is why I have led this delegation to personally come to condole with you, his father, wife, children, brother and sisters and all other members of the Taribi family.

    “And we again state our resolve to bring the perpetrators of this gruesome murder, cold blooded murder to book in any way we can. I want to thank you all for your courage.”

    Read also: How INEC ‘rebuffed’ PDP’s attempt to stop Buhari’s victory

    Also speaking, family Spokesman, Mr, Temple Igunikeke, gave a detailed account of how the Taridi and the Government House Photographer were shot inside the house.

    According to him, two men whose identities he gave as Ogili and Thankgod, led the men in army uniform to the Taridi’s residence where the deceased was resting to carry out the cold-blooded murder.

    Igunikeke who spoke in the presence of the father and widow of the deceased, said that Taridi and Dei were resting in the house after voting to await the outcome of the election when the two men led the assailants to the residence to shoot them.

    He called on the government and the relevant agencies to investigate the gruesome killing of Taridi and the shooting of Dei, to ensure that those involved in the murder are brought to justice.

    He said: “I wish to inform you that in which ever form they try to style the way they killed my nephew only one thing counts, the truth. We had finished elections and we were counting and there was no single event anywhere and as the leader that led us, he needed to rest a little and take back the votes to Oporoma and he was in his home with our dear brother, the photographer of government house .

    “No single Oweikorogha man will attest to the fact that there was anything near what they have done, that was expected. Nobody was there, and, of course, he had the right to remain in his house and they came, Ogili and ThankGod manifested in the toga of the salient saying in the bible that the enemy came to kill,steal, and destroy.

    “In your presence as the amiable Governor of this state that has taken us this far, I want to pledge before you that blood that cries for vengeance. Let the blood of Seidougha  also cry for vengeance. I want to thank and bless you and the government for the second time that you have come here.”

     

  • 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.”

  • Ortom, Akume quarrel over destruction of billboards in Makurdi

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has accused former Governor George Akume of leading youths to destroy the billboards of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on Wednesday in Makurdi, the state capital.

    But Akume, the senator representing Benue Northwest (Zone B), in a statement by his legislative aide, Isaac Vembeh, said he did not authorise the destruction of any poster and billboard belonging to any politician in Benue Atate.

    The statement said the State APC Leader was celebrating President Muhammadu Buhari’s grand victory in a motorcade with a huge crowd of his supporters.

    He condemned the alleged destruction of posters and billboards by overzealous unidentified persons, describing the action as primitive, barbaric and unnecessary in modern democracy.

    Addressing reporters at the Government House in Makurdi, Ortom expressed disappointment at Akume, saying the senator led other APC members to destroy PDP’s posters and billboards.

    According to him, instead of staging a peaceful celebration of President Buhari’s victory, the senator allegedly went on rampage.

    The governor said they destroyed billboards of the PDP, raided shops and blocked major roads in Makurdi.

    He called for the examination of Akume’s character, stressing that the former governor’s vow to destabilise the state during and after the elections would be resisted.

    Ortom urged Benue youths to desist from committing crime that could truncate their future.

    The governor urged the residents to remain calm as the matter had been reported to security agencies.

    He advised the residents to resist resorting to reprisals but to report to security agencies where their rights were being infringed upon.

    The governor said the PDP would be victorious in the governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    Describing last Saturday’s elections as relatively peaceful, Ortom hailed the people for conducting themselves well.

    He urged them to sustain the same composure in the March 9 elections.

  • 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.

  • Abdusalami peace committee meet Atiku, Obi

    The Absulsalami Abubakar National Peace Committee is currently locked in a meeting with the Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it was learnt on Thursday.

    The meeting, it was learnt,  was convened following Atiku’s decision to go to court to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory.

    The meeting, it was also learnt started around 6pm.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Buhari winner of the poll having scored 15, 191,847 votes against Atiku”s 11,262,978.

    Read also: ‘Buhari’s re-election, victory for democracy in Nigeria’

    PDP team at the meeting include its Presidential candidate  Atiku Abubakar, his running mate, Peter Obi, Senate President Bukola Saraki, PDP Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other PDP leaders are also in attendance.

    The former military Head of State, Gen it was also learnt was joined by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, and other members of the National Peace Committee.

    Others in the meeting include: Cardinal John Onaiyekan, and Rev. Fr Atta Barkindo of the NPC Secretariat.

  • Accept defeat, ex-Governor Umar tells Atiku

    A former Military Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa  Umar on Thursday asked the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alh. Atiku Abubakar to accept defeat.

    He also urged Atiku to shelve plans to go to Presidential Election Tribunal.

    He, however, pleaded with Buhari to reunite the nation and avoid hounding the opposition leaders.

    He tasked the President to check his overzealous supporters from heating up the polity

    Abubakar, who made the appeal in a statement in Abuja, said Abubakar has an obligation to tread cautiously in the interest of the nation

    The statement said: “No one in good conscience ever thought an exercise as gigantic as conducting a Presidential election in a country as vast as Nigeria, would go without hitches and setbacks. And in spite of the generally positive comments by observers, last Saturday’s exercise did not.

    “It goes without saying that the outcome of an imperfect exercise cannot but remain imperfect itself – a fair illustration of the dictum; garbage in garbage out. In the circumstances, we are obliged to look with sympathy at the decision by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to concede defeat but to mount a legal challenge against the result of the Presidential election that held on the 23rd of February, 2019; result that gave victory to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress. And yet, regardless of the way he feels about it, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has an obligation to tread cautiously, taking into account the impact any action he or other leaders take will have on the gravely tense political and security conditions prevailing in Nigeria today.  “As we are well aware, elections and electioneering campaigns in Nigeria as in much of Africa, have almost always proved to be deadly triggers for strife, apprehension, disputes and other forms of conflict, often leading to violence and bloodshed.

    “The longer and the more protracted the process, the heavier the toll. Sadly, Nigeria has suffered terribly from these calamities in the course of this bitterly contested election exercise.”

    Umar said Abubakar’s refusal to concede defeat may seriously detract from the high pedestal that he deserves in Nigeria’s political establishment.

    The statement added: “Atiku Abubakar and his party ran an admirably strong and sophisticated campaign. He should be justly proud of his achievements. He had established his credentials as a powerful and worthy alternative presidential material now and in the years to come.

    “Unfortunately, his decision not to accept the outcome of this election or conceded victory to his opponent may seriously detract from the high pedestal that he deserves in Nigeria’s political establishment. In the interest of peace and our democracy, I as one of his admirers, advise that he reconsiders that decision.”

    But Umar urged President Buhari to reunite the nation and run an inclusive government.

    The statement said: “While at this, we hasten to remind the declared winner that he does not have all that much time to redeem his pledges of being a leader and unifier of all Nigerians. The public had welcomed with cautious optimism the promises he made in his acceptance speech to run an inclusive government.

    “To become a leader of all Nigerians requires that he ignores the voting pattern that brought him to power and consider the country as one large family.

    “Agitations over marginalization, particularly in appointments to key government and public offices mounted by groups including Ohaneze Ndigbo, PANDEP, Middle-belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum, and all those well-meaning citizens must be addressed and redressed.

    “Opposition politicians must not be treated as enemies, haunted or destroyed.

    “A meticulous adherence to the rule of law must be observed. History beckons on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a giant leap forward and re-invent himself.

    “Within his grasp lies the chance to transform into a statesman and become the real father of the nation. Finally, he must discourage and disavow the antics of his overzealous supporters whose excessive and provocative triumphal display can only overheat and further polarize the polity.”