The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to the Senate’s rejection of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of his aide and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Lauretta Onochie as a national commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The PDP said it represents the Nigerian people’s triumph over the blatant attempt by the Buhari-led-APC administration to corrupt and hijack the commission ahead of the 2023 elections.
The party asserts that the rejection of Lauretta Onochie by Nigerians has saved the nation from very serious crisis as well as salvaged INEC and the entire Nigerian electoral process from a ruinous pollution that would have led to the collapse of our democratic order.
It claims that Onochie’s vexatious nomination was a very dangerous machination by the Buhari-led APC Presidency against our electoral process, in an attempt to subvert the will of the people in the 2023 elections.
The APC, in spite of its shenanigans, is aware that it will have difficulties winning election at any level in a free, fair and credible election and as such it is determined to rig every process ahead of the 2023 elections.
As a result, the party applauds Nigerians, including civil society organizations, the media, and other political parties, for banding together with the PDP to defend the integrity of our electoral process by opposing Onochie’s nomination.
The tenacity displayed by Nigerians across the board in repelling this heinous attempt to hijack and pollute the electoral commission demonstrates their collective and unwavering determination to resist and dethrone the APC in 2023, despite its shenanigans.
The PDP urged Nigerians not to rest on their oars but to continue in this spirit in fighting for our democracy, particularly in further resisting the attempt to alter the Electoral Act to prohibit direct electronic transmission of elections results from polling units.
It is clear that the APC is pushing for the prohibition of electronic transmission of results because it seeks to use its usual malpractices alteration of figures, switching of results as well as disappearance of ballot materials while on transit to collation centers to, again, subvert the will of the people and manipulate its hold on power in 2023.
Our party, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Nigerian people, will use every means available and permissible under our laws to ensure that such provision that seeks to institutionalise and endorse rigging is not allowed to pass.
The PDP advised the APC to read the writing on the wall and recognize that Nigerians are ready to resist them at any turn in the run-up to the 2023 election.