The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged moves by the electoral body to bend the rules to “smuggle” in candidates from the Zamfara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The opposition party said whereas legally, all congresses and related processes for election of candidates for various offices for the 2019 general elections ended on Sunday, October 7, 2018, the Zamfara state chapter of the APC has not conducted any congress, and by the provision of the law, it has no candidates in all the elections.
A statement on Monday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan insisted that the laws guiding elections must be upheld, as the party would never accept anything short of that.
The statement said, “The PDP is aware of a clandestine meeting today between topmost officials of INEC and Zamfara state government, where INEC was instructed to manipulate the system and bend the rules to accommodate the APC.
“The PDP cautions the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, over this attempt to manipulate the processes and use underhand measures to liberate the APC from the cul de sac it plunged itself into in Zamfara state.
“Finally, the PDP wants the APC and INEC to know that our party is at alert regarding all electoral processes, in line with our avowed determination to dismantle APC’s rigging machinery in the 2019 general elections”.
