By Donald Iorchir
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that the forthcoming area council elections in the Territory “cannot be manipulated by any group or a political party.”
In a statement issued by the chairman, Yahaya Yunusa Suleiman, it accused the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) of allowing itself to be intimated and cajoled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to shift the polls already slated for March 19 to April 9.
Suleiman said the Commission had no reason at all to postpone the election, describing the reason given by the body as “a flimsy excuse,” adding that there was nothing cogent in their reasoning.
The statement said: “The Electoral Act states that the Commission can postpone an election only if the reason for the postponement is cogent and variable.
“It is unfortunate that the Commission has allowed itself to be intimated and cajoled by the All Progressives Congress; there is nothing cogent in their reasoning. The APC in FCT is very weak as a political party; they are not on ground as they have no political structures in FCT, but they have boasted to whoever that bothers to listen that the INEC is their puppet and will dance to their tune.”
It added that the area council elections were captured in the Electoral Act unlike other state local government elections, which it said “normally come up every three years and cannot be manipulated in the FCT as done in the states.”