PDP rejects Edo council election results, threatens legal action

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the results of the April 20 Edo council elections and described the exercise as a mockery of democracy.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, who made this known while briefing newsmen on Sunday in Abuja, also said the party would challenge the results in court.

The PDP spokesman said the elections were manipulated against the party, adding that what happened at the Edo council elections was “a mockery and a threat to the country’s democracy.

“The survival of our democracy is under very serious threat.

“Unpatriotic and undemocratic elements have laid siege on our nation’s democracy and Nigerians are now living in serious fear and uncertainty.

“Since the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential elections, we have never in the political history of Nigeria witnessed any such assault on the people and democracy like what is going on in Edo.’’

Mr. Metuh said it was a regret that the people of Edo were being subjected to the “worst form of tyranny” while their will to choose their leader was subverted.

The PDP spokesman decried the intimidation of PDP candidates and their supporters during the election.

He called on the military authorities to investigate the alleged role of the Brigade Commander in Benin in the use of the military against PDP members during the polls.

Mr. Metuh further alleged that ballot boxes were carted away, with election results manipulated in favour of the CAN.

“Also, election results were annulled in places where PDP candidates won clearly,’’ he said.

Mr. Metuh also contended that there were no election materials in many local councils where PDP had greater support and that PDP members were not allowed to vote in Etsako Central.

“The cancellation of the Esan North-East election results by the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), the second time after it was discovered that a PDP candidate won the election, was to undermine prominent PDP members from the area,’’ he said.

The party spokesman said PDP would challenge the election results in court.

“We went to court in Lagos, we will go to court in Edo. That is the beauty of democracy,’’ he said.

Mr. Metuh said it was an irony that Gov. Adams Oshiomhole had continued to display disdain for democracy since he assumed office.

“It is funny that a direct beneficiary of President Goodluck Jonathan’s policy of transparent election is the one that is now going against it,’’ he said.

The PDP official called on Nigerians, civil society groups and other stakeholders to join in the “just fight” to salvage the Edo people.

“We as a party cannot witness the enthronement of free and fair federal elections by President Goodluck Jonathan only to become victims in elections in states controlled by the opposition,’’ Mr. Metuh said.

You can’t register as APC, INEC tells ACN, CPC, others

You can’t register as APC, INEC tells ACN, CPC, others

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to the All Progressives Congress, disclosing that its acronym, in its application seeking registration as a political party, clashes with that of the African People’s Congress.

In a letter dated April 23, 2013 and signed by its secretary, Abdulahi Kaugama, the commission informed leaders of the All Progressives Congress of another party, the African People’s Congress, advising that a change of name may be an option.

Similar letter was sent to the lawyers of the All Progressives Congress, though the commission did not make any reference to ongoing court action by the African People’s Congress, challenging its non-registration by INEC.

Meanwhile, the battle over the APC acronym may have entered a crucial stage, as the African People’s Congress has also initiated a counter move to have INEC reject the application of the All Progressives Congress, which is expected to be submitted after all the merging parties had concluded their conventions.

In a one-page letter by its lawyer, Awa Kalu, to the INEC chairman, dated April 26 and received same day by INEC, the African People’s Congress reminded INEC of the pendency of the legal action seeking to upturn the decision of INEC not to register the African People’s Congress, in a suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/224/13 between Chief Ikeagwuonu and 29 ors vs INEC.

It will be recalled that the African People’s Congress, a political association seeking registration, was denied registration by INEC on the grounds that their application did not contain the address of its national officers, an action the party had countered as untrue, stating that INEC was on a deliberate mission to stop it.

Section 79 of the Electoral Act gives a political association, whose application for party registration is rejected, 30 days within which to seek judicial review of the decision, a provision the African People’s Congress had already exploited, with its pending litigation at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking judicial review of the decision of INEC.