Meet Us at Tribunal if You Have Facts, Abia PDP Tells APGA

The Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday challenged its main rival, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to come for a duel at the tribunal if it has any facts instead of feeding the public with “spurious stories” concerning the governorship election won by PDP.

The challenge was thrown by the legal committee of PDP 2015 campaign organisation at a press conference held in Umuahia “to put in proper perspective” the insinuations that the ruling party was involved in card reader scandal.

Abia state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) got embroiled in card reader scandal when two staffs were alleged to have been involved in attempt to smuggle out card readers out of the INEC premises but were stopped by a security officer.

Leader of PDP legal team, Barr Gabriel Igboko said that the INEC incident was “a seemingly pre-determined drama written by APGA and performed by security personnel at INEC”.

He wondered why the opposition should be linking PDP with the INEC incident and going to town with “falsehoods and blackmail”. “If any person wanted to gain from any alteration will it be PDP that has already won the election?” he queried.

“We had kept quiet all along thinking that civility would prevail,” he said, adding that it was regrettable that APGA has been spinning falsehoods to whip up sentiments and attract public sympathy with the hope of possibly swaying the tribunal members.

In his remarks the state secretary of PDP, Barr Charles Esonu, who is also a member of the legal committee, alleged that APGA actually paid the security personnel involved in the “drama” at INEC, adding that has demonstrated an unbridled desperation to grab power in Abia by all means.

“It is a grand design by the opposition to whip up sentiment and sway the tribunal members,” he said.
Members of the legal committee who also expressed their minds on the ongoing opposition “propaganda” said that it was unreasonable for anybody to be whipping up sentiments when there is provision for legal redress over election disputes.

“Bringing charlatans to poison the minds of tribunal members won’t work,” said Ann Uchendu, the only female member of the committee, adding, “We’re ready to meet them at the court”.

Barr Paul Nwabuisi in his remarks noted that APGA has taken the INEC card reader incident to a height of “misrepresentation, saying, it is so vexatious, unreasonable and absolutely wrong for people to be making spurious allegations”.