The All Progressives Congress (APC) has
accused the 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.
”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,” the party said in a
statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed.
”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.”