INEC working for PDP, says Oshiomhole

… Appeal to Nigerians to Vote Buhari

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade
Adams Oshiomhole said on Wednesday that the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) was working for the main opposition
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 general
election.

Oshiomhole however, added that the governing party will not
decent to the level of bringing down state institutions because the
APC believes that state institutions should be allowed to perform
their functions.

Responding to questions about alleged collusion between the
Electoral Management Body and President Muhammadu Buhari,
Oshiomhole alleged that at the moment, two Resident Electoral
Commissioners in the South-South have been going about campaigning
with the PDP.

Oshiomhole who asked Nigerians not to return the PDP to power
said the pledge by the PDP candidate to float the naira was a
receipt to economic woes, adding that Atiku has always been part of
wrath facing the nation.

He also dismissed PDP allegations that the APC was responsible
for burning some INEC offices that have recently been engulfed in
flame, stressing that he could easily allude to the fact that the
PDP burnt the INEC offices because they are afraid of losing
elections in those places.

He said “If anything, this INEC has been very unfair to the APC.
But we just discovered that we have a responsibility. The fact that
we are a governing party imposes on us a certain level of code that
you can’t be seen to rubbish every institution because if we
rubbish everything, it would mean that we don’t want election. INEC
believe everything the PDP says.

“As we speak, there are two Resident Electoral Commissioners who
are virtually campaigning line by line with the PDP in the south
South. INEC, without giving us any explanation and without any
concrete evidence went ahead to say we can’t field candidates in
Zamfara, thereby seeking to award, without any context and nulify
democracy in Zamfara state.

“Is that the way your friends behave if they are your friends.
INEC is working more for the PDP, based on evidence I can show. How
can they explain that a court of competent jurisdiction gave orders
in Zamfara to say this candidate is eligible to contest election
and another high court in Abuja also gave a verdict saying APC did
not conclude its primaries but did not give order to INEC.

“There is no order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court of Appeal made a pronouncement on this matter today that
there was no order from the court in Abuja, but that there was a
concrate order from a Zamfara High Court which upheld the primaries
that was conducted in Zamfara.

“The INEC Chairman has said that when there are two court
orders, they will adopt the last judgement. In Zamfara state, the
Abuja judgement came first and the Zamfara judgment came last even
though it is the same say.

“More as INEC has said they will always obey the last judgement
when it came to the Zamfara issue, they changed the goal post. As
media, you have to be careful. When you say people alleged there
were meetings and can’t even cite any, it is a disservice. We have
been at the receiving end of abuse.

“There is a candidate in Kano whose nomination we forwarded to
INEC, but they changed the nomination and as we speak, we are in
court over that. We showed our evidence.

“Do you remember the confession of the former Deputy Senate
President who, on national television and on social media where
anything is possible, narrated how President Obasanjo used him and
Atiku to rig election, how they wrote results, how they collude
with INEC. This same Atiku was in office when Mantu was doing those
things.

“So, if PDP functionaries have enumerated how they use to rig
election, how can in all fairness point to President Muhammadu
Buhari who has been victim of election rigging three times such
that in our legal history it is part precedent that the Supreme
Court was persuaded to accept that election where ballot papers had
no serial number was OK and not a major infraction.”

On the allegation by the PDP that the party was responsible for
the fire incidences in some INEC offices, Oshiomhole said “does it
make sense for any responsible Nigerian, when there is fire
incidence either in a private property or a public property, to
jump into conclusion from the comfort of your room say that the
ruling party must have done it.

“There is an Igbo proverb that when you see a mad man running
naked and he pulled your clothes, you don’t join him in running
naked. The PDP choose to run naked and make allegations over
everything. They are free to do that. We are more busy and will not
join issues.

“This election is for us and no election can be this easy for
us. All we need is one man one vote and we will defeat the PDP.
There will be no violence, no fighting. Just the votes which will
be counted and we will win.”

He likened Atiku’s plans to grant amnesty to looters who refund
part of their loot to a situation of not putting in place any
punitive measure to deter others from towing the same part.

He said President Buhari was not a sit tight leader, but only
exercising his constitutional right to seek a second term in
office, saying the President has demonstrated his love for Nigeria
with the love of infrastructures he has put in place across the
country.

He told foreign observers that while their presence was
appreciated, western leaders should not come and dictate to Nigeria
how to carry out their activities, saying “we are not a colony of
any western nation”.

Nigeria, he said is much more than all those seeking to be the
President, appealing for a violence-free election which he said
will be won by his party without having to resort to any form of
rigging or intimidation.