Democracy under serious threat from APC, says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the postponement of the Edo state governorship election has a coup against the people.

A statement by Dayo Adeyeye, PDP spokesman, on Thursday, also warned that the country’s democracy “is under a serious threat from the APC and its Gestapo security agencies.”

On Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that the election, which was scheduled for Saturday, would take place after the police and the department of state services (DSS) had called for its postponement on Wednesday.

But a few hours later, the electoral umpire announced that the election would no longer go on.

Reacting to the development, Adeyeye said that the action was illegal and unconstitutional.

“Sequel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s decision this afternoon to go ahead with the Edo state gubernatorial election as scheduled; and their immediate reversal of that patriotic stance, the Leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, CON, has re-iterated its earlier position that the Saturday September 10, 2016 election date should remain sacrosanct since there is no tangible reason(s) evident to tamper with the election,” he said.

“The call for the postponement of the election by hierarchy of the security agencies predicated on alleged security threat was a less than ingenious attempt to buy time for the APC, which is clearly heading for a major electoral catastrophe on Saturday.

“It is shameful and indeed a major constitutional breach for the security agencies to act in concert with the APC to truncate an election that had been planned for months. Nigerians were not deceived by the obvious concoctions of the security agencies whose performances during elections have been less than average since the advent of the Buhari administration. Indeed they have become instruments in the hands of the ruling party to harass, intimidate and punish opponents.

“The postponement of the election by INEC is illegal, unconstitutional and a breach of the people’s trust in the commission and the security agencies. It is a coup against the people of Edo state in particular and Nigerians in general. Since APC assumed power, virtually all elections conducted by INEC have either been inconclusive or truncated. Saturday’s Election in Edo state must be an exemption. We will not accept anything less than free, fair and transparent election conducted and concluded the same day. INEC must rise to the occasion to restore the confidence of Nigerians in its operations. Edo is a test case. With the way INEC is performing, how are we sure that it would be able to handle the 2019 national elections. Our democracy is under a serious threat from the APC and its Gestapo security agencies.”