The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the call by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, for the postponement of next month’s general elections ostensibly to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) more time to distribute all Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), warning that under no circumstance must the elections be scuttled.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the call by Col.\ Dasuki, during an event at the Chatham House in London yesterday, has exposed the hitherto clandestine plot by the Jonathan administration to push for the postponement of the polls, using all sorts of cheap tricks.
“Now that we have found the smoking gun, we are urging the international community, in particular, to urgently extract a commitment from President Goodluck Jonathan that the elections will hold as scheduled next month, and that he would respect the outcome, just as we have said,” it said.
APC said Col. Dasuki was only seeking to buy time for Jonathan campaign to gather steam by hinging his postponement call on the delay in PVC distribution, adding: “They know for sure that if they don’t postpone the elections, there is no way they can win. They are just terrified.”
The party also called on Nigerians to reject in its entirety the ongoing orchestrated plot by the Jonathan administration to postpone the elections, saying the constitutional crisis that would be triggered by such postponement was capable of undermining the nation’s democracy.
“After realising that it will be rejected by Nigerians who have borne the brunt of its mis-governance over the years, after realising that its campaign of calumny against our presidential candidate has failed, the Jonathan administration has now started to play its last card, which is the postponement of the election,’’ it said.
APC said the importance of elections cannot be over-emphasised, adding: “Election is the lifeblood of democracy, the mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates. It is the only way for the citizenry to renew and refresh the governing process so they can get the most benefits out of democracy. Therefore, anyone that tries to sabotage this mechanism is aiming a dagger straight to the heart of democracy.”
Government should not tinker with election timelines – Atiku
Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has urged that the general elections in the country should hold as scheduled next month. He warned that government must not tinker with the option of postponing the elections.
“Yes, we have a problem with the distribution of PVCs but the position of my party, the APC, is that since we have a voters’ register, then that should be used in conducting the elections. I also believe there is enough time between now and the elections to issue everyone with their PVCs,” Atiku said shortly on arrival in the country.
The former vice president, who landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport yesterday after a medical vacation trip, said the call made by the National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, for a postponement of the elections was uncalled for and portended a dangerous signal about the intentions of the Federal Government to conduct free, fair and credible polls in February.
Atiku was quoted to have said in the statement signed by his media office that he is “strong, healthy and happy” to be back to lend his support to the train of change sweeping across the country.
“The duty of participating in the process of change which our great party, the APC is committed to supersedes every other consideration. For me, participating in this campaign is a call to national duty.
“It is a duty which we cannot afford to compromise upon and we must press into the consciousness of those at the helms of affairs that it is morally dubious and socially unacceptable to extend the dates of the elections by a single day from the scheduled timelines,” the former Vice President said.
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