Press Statement
The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO),
condemns in unambiguous terms, the alleged plot by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency
to rig the 2019 general elections by creating illegal polling centers in
Chad and Niger Republic.
The PPCO describes the plot by INEC and President Buhari to secretly
create polling centers outside the shores of our country, in total
violation of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as inexcusably criminal
and exposes part of the plot to corrupt our electoral system and
massively rig for President Buhari.
President Buhari, INEC and all Nigerians know that there are no
provisions for Diaspora voting under our system. By the extant laws
guiding elections in Nigeria, it is very clear who is eligible to vote,
as well as the centers statutorily designated for elections. There is no
provision for any special arrangement whatsoever.
It is therefore reprehensible that President Buhari, in his desperation
to rig the elections, is now trying to hide under the guise of making
special provision for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) outside the
country, to illegally create rigging centers outside our country and
import contrived figures into the election results.
This clandestine arrangement further validates the alarm earlier raised
by the PDP, in April this year, of INEC’s plot to secretly create 30,000
illegal polling centers in some remote areas, through which they plan to
allocate millions of votes to President Buhari and the APC.
Nigerians can now see that the APC and its candidate are not committed
to peaceful, credible, free and fair election. Having realized that
there is no way he can win in a peaceful and credible election, Mr.
President is now seeking means to enmesh the 2019 elections in
constitutional crisis, public confusion and trigger an imminent violence
that is capable of derailing our entire democratic process.
Moreover, by seeking to open polling units outside the country, the
Buhari administration has now agreed that it does not have full control
of Nigerian territory and cannot provide security for Nigerians to
freely participate in the elections.
If President Buhari is in any way inclined towards diaspora voting, he
should send an appropriate bill to the National Assembly for approval to
accommodate not only Nigerians in Chad and Niger Republic, but also
those in other sub-Sahara countries as well as Europe, America and other
parts of the world, who have been agitating for Diaspora voting.
Finally, the PPCO cautions the Buhari Presidency and INEC Chairman,
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, not to set our country on fire by engaging in
provocative actions in a desperation to rig the 2019 Presidential
election for President Buhari.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
Director, Media & Publicity
PDP Presidential Campaign Council
