Oshiomhole’s election: PDP ignorant of electoral rules, says APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has lampooned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its comments on the election of its new national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

The opposition party had on Wednesday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to void the election of Oshiomhole, saying it was not in compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

Reacting, Babatunde Ogala, national legal adviser of the APC, said Kola Ologbodiyan, the PDP national publicity secretary, betrayed his ignorance of the law by making the statement.

He said the “success” of the convention “makes the PDP uneasy and fidgety to start chasing shadows and winking in the dark”.

“In responding to Mr. Ologbodiyan, I will take cognizance of his lack of knowledge of law and say he could therefore only have uttered those words attributed to him out of ignorance of the provisions of APC Constitution,” Ogala said.

“I am also not unaware of the fact that Mr. Ologbodiyan, having not been present at the venue of our convention, could only have uttered his words based on hearsay and gossips.

“The import of the extant provision of Article 20 of the APC Constitution was obviously not known to Mr. Ologbodiyan and his party PDP.

“As Mr. Ologbodiyan and his PDP were not present at our Convention, they are busy-bodies who could not have known that the election of the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and 21 other officers that were elected unopposed all had the attendant overwhelming ‘YES’ Votes at the National Convention at Eagle Square and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was a compliant observer of the convention. Mr. Ologbondiyan was fishing in uncharted and murky dark waters and now needs help.”

Similarly, Bolaji Abdullahi, the APC’s national publicity secretary, said the PDP is ignorant of electoral rules and internal party operations.

“We read with dismay, but without surprise PDP’s statement calling on INEC to annul the results of the highly successful National Convention of our party held last Saturday,” he said.

“But we understand PDP’s problem, they are terrified by Oshiomhole, they know that with him they will no longer have breathing space.

“Hence, the baseless allegations peddling and conspiracy theory which we are now accustomed to as part of PDP’s sorry attempt to play ‘opposition politics.”

Speaking in the same vein, Victor Ndoma-Egba, secretary, APC national convention, said the emergence of Oshiomhole is constitutional.

Ndoma-Egba said whoever was not satisfied with the process could go to court to seek redress, adding that the APC constitution and the electoral act were clear on the issue.

He said: “The response of the PDP is that of somebody who got an outcome that he did not anticipate, they were expecting an implosion which did not happen.

“Those who were not our friends were praying for an explosion of the party on that day, but fortunately, they were all disappointed, we had a peaceful and successful convention.

“Yes, there were one or two skirmishes on the convention ground, that is to be expected in an assembly of nearly 7,000 people.”

Ndoma-Egba maintained that the skirmishes experienced during the convention were not substantial enough to influence or affect its outcome.