PDP Governors Pass Vote Of No Confidence On INEC

The Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum has (PDPGF) has passed a vote of no confidence on the Independent National Electoral Commission’ s (INEC) preparedness for the March 28 and April 11 general election.

According to Punch, the governors in an interactive session with INEC on March 10, Tuesday also faulted the electoral body for its stance on card readers for the coming polls.

The governors at the Lagos forum were Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Bala Ngilari (Adamawa); Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); Jonah Jang (Plateau); Mukhtar Yero (Kaduna) and Ibrahim Danwambo (Gombe).

The PDPGF which usually holds its meetings in Abuja or any PDP state said it chose Lagos,  a stronghold of the opposition All Progressives Congress for the interactive session  because it is the headquarters of the media and activism in Nigeria.

The PDP governors said the postponement of the elections were justifiable, they maintained that people who do not have Permanent Voter Cards should be allowed to vote.

Akpabio said Nigerians should be grateful to the PDP for ensuring that the country had the longest span(16 years) of democracy.

He said: “The continued quest of the PDP-led Federal Government for free, fair and credible elections is witnessed in President Goodluck Jonathan’s robust support through adequate and sustained funding as well as the free hand given to INEC to operate.

“But surprisingly, in our own opinion, INEC appears ill-prepared for the 2015 elections. For example, at the time the polls were shifted due to security concerns, over 23 million registered voters had yet to collect their PVCs and you know there are some countries with populations of about just three million.

“Twenty-three million would amount to disenfranchising more than five West African countries in their own elections.

“It will be recalled that even the INEC chairman(Prof. Attahiru Jega) admitted on the floor of the Senate that over one million PVCs had yet to be printed in far away China.

“According to the INEC chairman, the postponement was a blessing in disguise. How then can Nigerians reconcile the purported readiness of INEC for the February 14 election with the testing of card readers more than a month after the postponement? More than three weeks after the elections have been shifted, they are then testing the card readers that would have been used. Given the failure rate of the card readers during the recent mock exercise, it is apparent that many Nigerians will be disenfranchised even when they are registered to vote.

“We don’t want anyone disenfranchised and we are pleading also that elections should not be shifted again because the impression is that we were not ready for elections even though we know that we would have won the elections if they had been allowed to hold.”

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State has accused the Kaduna State government of denying its presidential candidate, Rtd. Gen. Muhammad Buhari access to the Murtala Mohammed Square for his North-West zonal rally.

The party alleged that the PDP was already jittery and  afraid of the popularity and strength of the APC in the state.

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