…Wants sanction imposed on INEC, Police authorities by international community
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the outright cancellation of the governorship elections held last Saturday in Kogi and Baylesa States as they are products of bloodshed and do not reflect the true wishes and aspiration of the people of the states.
The Party also demanded for the immediate cancellation of the Kogi West Senatorial election re-run held same day describing it as the biggest fraud of the century.
The National Chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus who made the calls at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, described the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States as a charade and a sham.
Secondus noted that the official conspiracies, bloodletting and mindless killing of innocent citizens by agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration in connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to aid the forceful seizure of power in the November 16th Kogi and Bayelsa States governorship elections, clearly show that the nation’s democracy was under severe attack.
He observed that in an apparent organized attack, government-controlled Police and military, working for the APC, deployed dangerous assault weapons, including helicopters to coordinate the violent invasion of polling units with maximum force; shooting, killing and maiming unarmed civilians, who were called out by government to perform their civic responsibilities at the elections.
The National Chairman said that the world watched with horror as killer security agents brutalized voters and carted away ballot boxes to government facilities where results were written in favour of the APC and handed to a heavily compromised INEC, which had become part of the crime, to announce.
According to Secondus, “From the report reaching our party, no fewer than 30 innocent compatriots were killed and many more injured in this organized crime against humanity by the APC, the Police and INEC. The only crime of the citizens was their expressed determination to vote for the candidates of their choice as governors of Kogi and Bayelsa States as clearly manifested in the results from the polling centers before the forceful seizure of the electoral processes.
“Most distressing is the gruesome incineration of one of our party’s woman leaders in Kogi State, Mrs. Acheju Abuh, in her home by APC thugs, a crime that was abetted by unscrupulous security agents. Our party holds that this electoral fraud and crime against humanity, including established culpable homicide committed by the APC, security agents and INEC cannot be allowed to pass.
“The leadership of our great party has thoroughly reviewed incontrovertible pieces of documentary evidence including video clips, graphic pictures, witness testimonies, manipulated results sheets, proofs of compromising of INEC officials and other hard facts to establish the culpability of the Police and INEC in the electoral fraud as well as the unforgiveable culpable homicide and crime against humanity in the elections. The PDP also restates that we have the details of the roles played by the Police high command and the INEC as well as other security and INEC officials in this election. Those details will be made public at the appropriate forum and time.
“It is instructive to call the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the fact that since the election, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC Federal Government has failed to take any concrete steps to investigate the issues and bring culprits to book. The Police and INEC had also failed to take any decisive action to arrest and investigate their officers accused of involvement in various crimes in the elections. We have also noted frantic efforts by the police hierarchy to explain away the crimes and sweep the killings under the carpet. These only validate apprehension that the invasion of polling unit, killings and alteration of results were part of the premeditated power-grabbing designs of the APC.
“The PDP states without equivocation that invasion of polling units and killing of voters to manipulate electoral results cannot be allowed in our democratic space. If the APC’s political brigandage that happened in Kogi and Bayelsa State is allowed to stand, such would be extended to other elections including the 2023 general elections and that would be a death knell to our democracy. It is therefore a sacred duty we all owe our nation to pursue a redress for this crime within the ambits of our national and international laws.
“In this regard, the PDP calls for the outright cancellation of the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States as they are products of bloodshed and do not reflect the true wishes and aspiration of the people of the states. We also demand the immediate cancellation of the Kogi West Senatorial election. This is the biggest fraud of the century.”
He observed that the PDP, standing with millions of Nigerians also held that INEC and the Police high command must be made to answer charges of electoral fraud and crime against humanity at the appropriate quarters.
“The PDP therefore calls on the international community as well as international organizations including, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union (AU), ECOWAS to immediately impose sanctions, including travel bans, on the INEC and the Police high commands for abusing their offices and allegedly aiding or allowing acts that led to electoral fraud and violence in the elections”, he added.
While pointing out that the primary duty of INEC and the Police was to ensure free, fair and credible election, he regretted that they observed this in the breach as even reported by agents, voters, stakeholders and independent observers in the elections insisting that they must therefore be made to face the consequences to serve as deterrent to others.
He however commended the people of Kogi and Bayelsa States for their resilience and resistance against oppressive forces during the election noting that such patriotism would never be in vain while condoling with the families of compatriots who were murdered by the APC.
“Indeed, their death can never be in vain as the mandate for which they were killed will be surely retrieved. Moreover, somebody someday will bear the full sentence of guilt at the appropriate quarters, be it within the ambit of our domestic laws or those of the international laws. In the meantime, we urge all members of the PDP to remain strong and undeterred as we collectively exert ourselves in the defence of our nation’s democracy”, he submitted.
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