The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has expressed disappointment at the postponement of today’s presidential and national assembly elections by INEC.
While expressing the fear that it might be a scheme to manipulate the election against President Muhammad Bihari’s bright chances, the council, however, urged the electorate to be patient and determined.
The Director, Strategic Communications od the campaign council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), said in a statement condemned “this tardiness of the electoral umpire in the strongest terms possible.”
According to him, Buhari cooperated fully with INEC “by ensuring EVERYTHING it demanded to conduct free and fair elections were promptly made available to it. This news is, therefore, a huge disappointment to us and to our teeming supporters nationwide and around the world, many of whom have come into the country to exercise their franchise.”
He explained that the APC expressed the hope that INEC would remain neutral and impartial in the process, adding that the rumour mill was agog with the suggestion that the postponement had been orchestrated in collusion with the main opposition, the PDP, that was, according to him, never ready for this election.
He said, “We note that all the major credible demographic projections have predicted a defeat of the PDP and it seriously needed this breather to orchestrate more devious strategies to try and halt President Buhari’s momentum.
“It did the same as the ruling party in 2015, when it realized the game was up, by orchestrating the postponement of the 2015 elections by six weeks. Now, it may be up to its old trick again.
“We have earlier raised the alarm that the PDP is bent on discrediting this process the moment it realized it cannot make up the numbers to win this election. We are only urging INEC not collude with the PDP on this.
“We are truly worried because as early as Friday morning, some known PDP Social Media influencers unwittingly announced this postponement, but quickly deleted the message and apologized to the public that it was fake news. We do not want to be forced to a situation of announcing our total loss of confidence in INEC, because we know where that would leave our democracy.
“It is in the light of the above that we wish to appeal to Nigerians and our supporters to be patient, calm and resolute despite this temporary setback. Let us not give anyone, especially the PDP, the opportunity to plunge this nation into a crisis, which is what they earnestly desire. Its imminent defeat is just a few days away.
“Lastly, we wish to draw the attention of INEC and the world to observe that the PDP has clearly and openly said it plans to announce parallel results through some funny device it has procured or developed.
“We wish to reiterate that it is ONLY INEC that is legally and constitutionally empowered to declare results and it constitutes an offence for anyone to do so. We urge INEC to SPEAK UP NOW and warn the PDP to desist from this ignoble act that is capable of plunging the nation into a crisis of immeasurable proportions
