.Stop Working For APC, Release Findings on Underage Voters’, PDP Tells INEC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to give account of his ministers and other government officials who abandoned their scheduled meeting with investors in the United States to gallivant in that country.
The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had condemned the ministers absence while speaking to reporters in Washington on Sunday.
In a statement on Monday by Kola Ologbodiyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, they saw the minister’s absence as nothing but an irresponsible act which they blamed on Buhari.
Said PDP: “The ministers reportedly abandoned the foreign investors and went on shopping spree in highbrow shops of the United States, at the time Nigerians were looking up to them to negotiate deals and bring in investments into the country.
“This embarrassing development is indeed a clear reflection of the recklessness and laissez-faire attitude of the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration towards governance, resulting in the biting economic recession and others woes plaguing our nation under President Buhari’s watch.
“It is now clear to Nigerians why the APC and its incompetent Federal Government have not been able to attract any meaningful Foreign Direct Investment to the country in the last three years of President Buhari’s administration. Instead, the ones it inherited are pulling out.
“How can APC government officials sent to attend investors’ meetings abandon their duties and engage in personal leisure abroad? Painfully, they blame everybody but themselves for the choking economic situation of the country in the last three years.
“PDP holds that these government officials had the temerity to pursue personal interests across the United State because they knew that even if their atrocious act were brought to the attention of Mr. President, he will claim that he is not aware.
“This is more so as Mr. President himself brought no dividend from the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where he de-marketed our nation with negative utterances.
“We therefore urge the National Assembly to spare no rods but to immediately summon the ministers named in the saga, including Dr. Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Science and Technology), Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Information) Babatunde Fashola (Power), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Minister of state for Petroleum Resources), Kemi Adeosun (Finance) and Kayode Fayemi (Solid minerals).
“It is now clear to all that the APC do not have the interest of our country at heart and Nigerians must spare no efforts in joining forces with the PDP to vote them out and reinstate a purposeful and productive administration, come 2019.”
Meanwhile, the PDP has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop covering the atrocities of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by making public its findings on underage voters in various states, particularly Kano and Katsina.
We are aware that the investigation unearthed a multitude of underage voters, particularly in Kano and Katsina, but that INEC has been instructed by the APC and the Presidency cabal to conceal the atrocity, which they plan to use to rig the 2019 presidential election for President Buhari.
“Our investigation reveals that beyond underage voters, the INEC panel discovered other atrocities, which the APC and the Presidency agents have been suppressing.
“We are also aware of the manipulations in INEC’s computer data center, which has been handed over to a compromised official known to be related to President Buhari.
“Nigerians are shocked that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is allowing the APC and the Presidency cabal to use him in their desperation to rig the 2019 election for President Buhari despite his overt rejection by the citizens as a result of the failures of his administration,” the party said.
The PDP added: “Only last week, Nigerians were stunned by revelations that INEC under Prof. Yakubu is plotting to create 30,000 illegal polling centers in soft and compromised areas through which they plan to allocate freevotes for President Buhari. This is in addition to plots to compromise other voting processes including the card readers to favour the APC.
“We invite Nigerians and the international community to note the various attempts by INEC to conceal the underage voters, particularly, in Kano and President Buhari’s home state, Katsina.
“When the issue first came to the public domain, the APC issued a staunch defence while INEC blamed the Kano state government. The commission had to back down to institute an inquest when confronted with facts showing that it registered the minors.
“Furthermore, Prof. Yakubu refused to allow for an all-inclusive panel of political parties and credible NGOs but went ahead to handpick INEC officials with a view to cover the illegality.
“Nigerians may recall that when we challenged the veracity of the preliminary report with documentary evidence, INEC promised to make public its final findings, but has refused to do so since the end of the inquest.
“We charge Prof. Yakubu to find the strength to resist the pressure by the APC and its Presidency or quit the office, as they will definitely put him on collusion course with Nigerians, who are already anxious about this election and are ready to stiffly resist anything short of credible, free and fair polls.”