The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO), has rejected the proposed use of past members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as Ad- Hoc staff for 2019 general elections and cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against manipulation of election results.
PDP Publicity Secretary, who also double as the PPCO Director Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan while addressing journalists on Wednesday in Abuja said “the party and its campaign organization totally rejects this ignoble intention which is a ploy to use APC card-carrying members as polls officers.
According to him, the on-going ASUU strike has not by any measure evacuated its members from the surface of the earth, ” therefore, if INEC sought to use the members of ASUU for the 2019 elections, the on going strike will not be an excuse to deploy APC members.
“We totally reject these plots to thwart electoral transparency in 2019 and we invite lovers of democracy and global democratic institutions to show more than a passing interest in our democratic process,” he added.
The PPCO director Media and Publicity also cautioned the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood “to immediately disentangle himself and his commission from the fresh plot by the APC and the Buhari Presidency to compromise the electoral guideline and pave the way for the alteration of the results of the 2019 general election to favour President Buhari.
He claimed that “Nigerians are already aware of the pressure being placed on him by the Buhari Presidency and APC seeking to force the commission to drop the display of results at the polling units as well as the electronic transmission of polled figures to INEC server from its guidelines.
“The Buhari Presidency is desperate to remove these requirements because the display of results at the polling units ensures that results posted at all levels remain those originally announced at the various polling units, while the electronic transmission to INEC server ensures that the results from the polling centers are not tampered with.
“PDP also demands that INEC allows both local and international observers to its situation room to ensure that the final figures are not tampered with.”
Ologbondiyan who accused the APC and Buhari Presidency of mounting pressure on INEC to drop the requirements so as to pave way for alleged planned alteration of results urged Prof. Yakubu “not succumb to the pressure of the Buhari Presidency, because doing so will definitely set him on a collision course with Nigerians.
He explained further explained: “this demand has become imperative in the face of allegations and public apprehensions that the INEC Chairman is being offered humongous sums of money, running into billions of naira, by agents of the APC and the cabal at the Buhari Presidency to accede to their demands.”
The PDP Spokesman also revealed: “information at our disposal further reveals that the INEC Chairman has been under pressure from this group said to be coordinated by President Buhari’s blood relation in INEC, who, we are surprised, Prof Yakubu still allows around himself.
Ologbondiyan counseled Prof. Yakubu to distance himself from “these very dangerous racketeers and the commission from this very dangerous racket, Nigerians will directly hold him responsible should these two important guidelines that guarantee transparency in the elections suddenly disappear from the INEC manual.”
