The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan and his party of engaging in crass lawlessness by their alleged serial violation of the country’s electoral law, under the guise of liberation, family or unity rallies across the country.
It, therefore, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assert its independence by calling the president and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to order before other parties follow suit.
In a statement issued yesterday in London, the interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president had exhibited a gross abuse of executive power by leading his party to prematurely kick-start the campaign for the 2015 elections, in violation of the law.
It said if the action is anything to go by, the 2015 general elections will be everything but free, fair and credible.
The statement said: “Hiding under nomenclature, this President has led his party to engage in brazen lawlessness and shameless impunity. They have gained an undue advantage over other parties, or beaten the gun, in athletics parlance. Therefore, they should suffer the consequences of their action, the least of which is a strong public rebuke, to be followed by stipulated sanctions if they persist.
“If nothing is done to check this lawlessness, Nigerians should brace up for more in the days ahead. What example is the President laying by violating the law? What signal is he sending to Nigerians about the need to respect the laws of the land? When a President brazenly
violates the electoral law under the guise of some rally, has he not started election rigging? Has he not already started compromising the electoral umpires and the security agencies?”
“We know the President’s conniving handlers and advisers do not appreciate that a higher standard of conduct is expected of the President of Nigeria, through his statements, actions and body language. Unfortunately, everything points to the fact that the President, by his serial violation, is telling Nigerians and the whole world loud and clear that the coming elections will neither be free fair nor credible!”