Despite the acceptance of defeat by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Ekiti State governorship election, Dr Kayode Fayemi, the opposition party, on Thursday declared that the election was skewed in favour of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has resolved to challenge it in court. National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who read the party’s communique at the end of the inaugural meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC), said that processes leading to the election were against his party.
According to Alhaji Mohammed, “in order to prevent a recurrence of what happened in Ekiti, especially the militarization of the process, the harassment and intimidation of citizens, especially those in opposition, my party has decided to challenge in court some of these constitutional breaches”.
He added that the party,”will also encourage our leaders and supporters, who were arrested, harassed and intimidated to seek the enforcement of their constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights that were recklessly abridged by the security agencies”.
Speaking further, he said, “Our decision to act is not only to ensure that these irresponsible and unconstitutional acts are not repeated in subsequent elections, especially that in Osun in August and next year’s general elections, but also because we have always said that evil thrives when good men do nothing!”.
The last governorship election in Ekiti State, it will be recalled, was won by Mr. Ayodele Fayose of PDP and the party’s candidate, Governor Kayode Fayemi, openly congratulated the PDP candidate.
The party however said that, “We are very proud of Gov. Fayemi for his conduct and comportment before, during and after the election, and we hail him as a true democrat in the true spirit of the APC’s belief that election is never a do or die affair, and that Nigerians must always be free to elect those to govern them”.
To this end, the party said that, it decided to challenge the outcome of the election because, “election is a process, and whatever happens on the voting day is only an integral part of that process. What happens before, during and after the voting day complete the process”.
The party noted that, “If, therefore, we view the just-concluded election in Ekiti as a process, then we can confidently say that while the events of the voting day itself may have led many to believe that the election was free and fair, the same cannot be said of the events before, during and after the election.
“We therefore believe that we owe it a duty to the continuous improvement of our electoral system and indeed the sustainability of our democracy to X-ray this election within the context that we have outlined above and draw the necessary lessons”, the party stated.
On incidents before election day, “We believe that the events leading to the D-Day in Ekiti negate the principles of a free, fair and credible election. From the militarization of the election to the police attack on our supporters, arrest and detention of our leaders across the state and the use of huge funds to induce voters, the federal authorities skewed everything in favour of the PDP.
“At a press conference addressed by our Chairman on June 20th, we warned that our democracy was in clear and present danger from anti-democratic forces who are bent on winning elections, at all cost. Today, we restate that warning and call for a reversal of the incidents that made sure a level playing ground was not provided for all the candidates at the just concluded election in Ekiti.
“While voting on Election Day may not have been characterized by the usual brigandage and violence, we submit that the entire process was everything but free and fair. If an integral part of the process was badly tainted as we have clearly and fully demonstrated above, then the entire process cannot but be tainted. Voting in Ekiti may have been free of the usual violence or manipulation at the collation centres, but the entire electoral process in the state was neither free, fair nor credible”, the party maintained.
APC is planning mayhem —PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday descended heavily on the national leadership of the APC for not accepting the processes and outcome of the last Saturday’s Ekiti State governorship election which was won by the PDP candidate, Mr. Ayodele Fayose,alleging that the opposition was planning mayhem in the state so as to discredit the out come of the poll .
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja last night by its National l Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said the position of the APC national leadership over an election widely accepted as one of the freest, fairest and most credible elections in Nigeria, and in which their candidate, Governor Kayode Fayemi had also conceded defeat, demonstrates their ‘preference for anarchy and blind homage to nihilism and destruction of the democratic order”.
According to the PDP,“the APC has once again confirmed that it is nothing but a chaotic organisation, totally averse to democracy and orderliness. It has shown that it is a party of desperate, frustrated and violent individuals promoting a Janjaweed ideology.
“This is a party that is fully aware that it was trounced in all the local governments of the state and even lost in the polling units and wards of its campaign Director-General and that of its Deputy National Chairman, yet it is bent at fomenting trouble to disrupt the peace in Ekiti state apparently out of frustration that it did not get the chance to rig the polls”,the statement added.
It pointed out that “We restate our commendations to security agencies for the roles they played in maintaining law and order and providing level playing ground for all parties before, during and after the election”.
“However we wish to alert of an orchestrated plot by the APC to now use the instruments of wild allegations and spurious claims to set the stage to unleash mayhem on Ekiti state using imported armed thugs. We therefore urge Nigerians to note this and hold the APC responsible should there be any breakdown of law and order in Ekiti State,” the party said.
Source: Tribune
