ALL Progressives Congress (APC), on
Wednesday, said the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to summon the
chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru
Jega, to a meeting that was not attended by other political parties in Abuja is
part of ongoing moves to compromise the integrity of the electoral commission.
The party, in a statement issued on
Wednesday by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was
wrong for Jonathan, who himself is a candidate in the forthcoming election, to
be summoning the electoral umpire at will, especially when such meetings were
populated by his appointees.
“Without the representatives of
other political parties attending such meetings, irrespective of whether or not
it was aimed at briefing security chiefs on the preparations for the polls, the
ruling PDP and its presidential candidate were seeking to gain undue advantage
over others ahead the elections.
“It is like the referee in a
football match meeting with key officials of one of the teams ahead of the
match. This is against the spirit of transparency and fairness and must stop
forthwith.
“Had the representatives of other
political parties apart from the PDP (the president is the leader of the PDP)
attended the meeting, the widespread speculations that Jega’s life and job were
threatened if he fails to drop the use of the card reader, as well as
circulating reports that he will be removed before Saturday, would not have
happened,” it said.
The APC insisted that whatever
briefings must be given by the INEC chairman on the coming polls must have in
attendance representatives of all the political parties that would participate
in the exercise.
The party also decried what he
described as clandestine meetings between some key presidency and INEC
officials, with a view to rigging the elections, warning the presidency to steer
clear of the electoral officials if, indeed, it was desirous of free, fair,
credible and peaceful polls.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives
Congress (APC) has said the Presidency and the PDP could not and must not be
allowed to profit from their sponsorship of ethnic militias, including MASSOB
and Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) to create chaos and violence before, during
and after the elections.
The party said another booby trap on
the path of holding the elections were the pending court cases against the use
of the card reader by INEC.
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