PDP: Our Presidential Primary, Lesson to INEC, APC

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the orderliness, transparency and credibility of its presidential primary serves as a direct lesson to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) on how elections should be conducted in present day Nigeria.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement Sunday in Abuja said that the success of the party’s presidential primary followed its strict adherence to democratic rules and principles of transparency and fairness.

This, the party said, had eluded the nation since President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration assumed office, stressing that every vote counted in the PDP presidential primary.

Ologbondiyan stated: “The process has shown that the electoral umpire, in its manifest compromises, and has been responsible for the electoral crises at various levels of elections. It also shows that our citizens, irrespective of their individual and group interests, are capable of holding peaceful and credible elections that meet global standards.

“Nigerians are therefore no longer in doubt that our compromised electoral umpire, under the Buhari administration, is ostensibly culpable for injecting rancorous situations that create openings for violence, manipulations, inconclusive polls and outright rigging of elections.”

The PDP therefore charged INEC to stop blaming voters, accept responsibility for its failure to conduct credible elections and learn from its presidential primary as the country approaches the 2019 general election.

The opposition party said that it conducted its presidential primary and a clear winner, Atiku Abubakar, emerged without any form of disagreements or reliance on heavy security, saying it shows that Nigerians are peaceful, orderly and desirous of credible processes at all levels of political engagement.

The PDP restated its determination to dismantle APC’s rigging machinery and return credible processes in all spheres of “our national life”.