APC against Electoral Act Amendment for fear of 2023 – PDP
Joel Oladele-Abuja
The leading opposition,Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of “scuttling the signing of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill because some key provisions in the Bill will not allow its grand design to rig the 2023 general elections.”
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba on Tuesday, PDP said that the APC and the Buhari presidency were never committed to the amendment of the electoral act to ensure credible elections and as such triggered the controversy of the mode of primaries by political parties as a camouflage to scuttle the entire Amendment Bill including provisions for electronic transmission of results among others.
“It is instructive to recall that the APC has been in trepidation of the amendment to the Electoral Act, due mainly to the provision of electronic transmission of election results, which will completely eliminate APC’s manipulations and alteration of results at elections.
“It is imperative to remind Nigerians of how the APC, in collusion with their leaders in the National Assembly fought hard to stop the electronic transmission of results provision in the Bill, but were resisted by Nigerians supported by the courageous action of the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives which staged a walkout only for the APC to orchestrate controversies and set the stage for the withholding of assent by Mr. President,” Ologunagba said.
He added that the failure of the president to sign the bill is an indication that APC is seeking every means to subvert any process that guarantee credible elections in 2023 “having lost the capacity and goodwill for electoral contest.”
“Such is consistent with the APC’s well-known machination against every genuine effort to instill credible, transparent, free and fair elections in Nigeria in the last six years. The APC thrives in electoral scam, duplicity, underhand dealings, violence and political brigandage, all in their heinous script to put Nigerians under perpetual bondage.
“The subversion of the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the APC further validates the fact that the APC is averse to the aspiration of Nigerians and does not believe in democratic principles of credible elections.” The statement reads further.
The opposition party also called on “all Nigerians, Civil Society Organizations, the International Community and all lovers of democracy across the world to rise up and put appropriate pressure on the APC-led National Assembly to immediately do the needful so as to safeguard our democracy by ensuring that the basic principles of transparent, credible, free and fair mode of conducting elections are guaranteed and sustained by law.”
The PDP therefore reiterated his determination to pursue the electronic transmission of election results to its logical conclusion and that there is no going back in their resolve to vote out the APC in 2023.
