The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, has said that the Party would challenge the results of the just-concluded Federal Capital Territory Council Elections.
This is as he alleged that the Council polls were manipulated by the governing Party, All Progressives Congress.
Ayu said this on Tuesday during a meeting of the National Working Committee with the leadership of State Chapters of non-PDP governing states at the National Secretariat, Abuja.
The former Senate President also urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to speedily assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, a move he said would ensure proper electronic transmission of results and forestall electoral malpractice ahead of the forthcoming elections.
He explained: “Many Nigerians don’t seem to appreciate the fact that we won all the elections in the Federal Capital Territory. The APC, we believe, manipulated some of the elections. And I’ll give you my reasons. First of all, the most populous local governments are AMAC, Kuje and Bwari. PDP won them comprehensively. Both the chairmanship and the counselorship elections.
“In the other three local governments of Abaji, Kwali and Gwagalada, we won nearly all the councillorship elections. If we put all the councillorship elections, PDP won 44 to APC’s 18. And where they lost, they thought the only way to manipulate the minds of Nigerians was to show that they too have three local governments and PDP had three local governments.
“In the same local governments they claimed to have won, we won nearly all the Councillorship elections. Strangely, INEC will say we won nearly all the councillorship, and we lost the chairmanship. The Party is going to look into the elections based on the results available to us and challenge those results that we think have been manipulated to give the impression that APC has the same strength with a PDP.”
Speaking to the former governors and state officials present, the Party’s chairman tasked them to work together to ensure the restoration of a PDP governor in their respective states.
He also declared that the PDP is open to the received “prodigal children” who had abandoned the Party for the opposition.
“We thank you very much for the work you are doing in your various states under very difficult circumstances. It is not easy to leave the office for many years and continue supporting the Party. It shows how committed and patriotic you are unlike some of your other colleagues.
“The first task I will give you immediately is to reach out to other of your colleagues who have benefited from this Party enormously and abandoned the Party. Where they are, we know they’re not happy. Some of them are grumbling in silence. Kindly reach out to them and bring them back home.
“We still regard them as our prodigal children. When they come, we’ll receive them and they will continue to help to build the Party. And you who had interacted with them in the governor’s forum and other fora are the best people who can reach out to your colleagues to bring them back home,” he said.
On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, he urged the President to expedite assent to forestall electoral malpractices in the forthcoming elections.
“We also hope that all of you will lend your voices to the Electoral Act that is before the President. The President should sign the Electoral Act. As a party, we’re particularly interested in that electoral act because if we have elections transmitted directly, then some of the manipulations that used to take place and cost us elections will go because we know Nigerians are supporting us.
“So all of you should lend your voice as a body and individually that the president should sign that electoral act,” he said.
On his part, the leader of the delegation of former Governors, Sule Lamido, who said the visit is to show solidarity with the Ayu-led NWC, also warned that Nigeria might cease to exist if the PDP fails to return to power in the forthcoming elections.
He said, “We are here to formally show solidarity with your leadership and give the message to Nigerians that PDP is a single family under your leadership and that PDP is the only hope for Nigeria in 2023. We are here to support you and the Party.
“We are also here to minimise acrimonious discussion in terms of power allocation; we need the Party first before the power, if the Party is not properly organised, power will elude us. In 2023, if we lose power, Nigeria may likely come to an end.
“We are working through you and our brothers in the Governors Forum that we are partners in progress; the PDP Governors and former Governors should be meeting regularly through your office. There should be synergy between the Governors, former Governors and NWC to guide Nigeria towards the 2023 elections.”
In attendance were former governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi State, Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State, Liyel Imhoke of Cross River State and Peter Obi of Anambra State.
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