PDP Accuses Buhari of Plot to Stall 2019 Elections

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari had employed surreptitious tactics to frustrate the conduct of the 2019 general elections having realised that he would lose the presidential election.

The party said President Buhari’s request to the National Assembly to vire N242 billion already approved for other projects in the 2018 budget to finance the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other agencies ahead of the 2019 general election was a booby trap deliberately set to drag the elections into a financial controversy and ultimately subvert the entire process.

This is coming as the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has demanded the cancellation of the results of the last weekend’s governorship election in Ekiti State as declared by the INEC.

The main opposition party said President Buhari should have sent a fresh supplementary budget to the National Assembly if indeed he meant well for Nigerians.

According to a statement issued by the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party invited Nigerians and the international community to note a “deliberate plot to inject disagreements in the polity, cause confusion in the electoral system and set the stage for a political crisis capable of frustrating the conduct of the elections.”

“The president is aware that his request is in no way in consonant with the constitutional provisions and extant rules guiding legislative virement of funds already meant for constituency development projects, yet he sent same to the National Assembly.

“If the president meant well for the country and had no ulterior motives, he should have sent a fresh supplementary budget to the National Assembly for whatever amount he seeks for INEC, instead of seeking a controversial virement.”

PDP said it had always pointed to series of signposts towards circumventing of the country’s laws and extant regulations to achieve certain unpatriotic agenda, including a possible self-succession plot.

“President Buhari must come to terms with the fact that Nigerians are eager for the 2019 general election and are not ready to be taken for a ride by any person whatsoever, in their quest for a new President by May 29, 2019.”

“We therefore charge the president to follow the rules and immediately submit a fresh supplementary budget or seek other legitimate ways and means, devoid of bottlenecks, to finance the election.

“Nothing must stop the 2019 general election and the process must be credible, free and fair,” the party said.

The opposition party warned the All Progressives Congress (APC)s administration to desist from actions that are capable of dragging the country into an unnecessary electoral crisis, adding that such a move will be firmly resisted by Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the NWC of the PDP has demanded the cancellation of the results of last weekend’s governorship election in Ekiti State as declared by the INEC.

The party said it held a crucial meeting last Tuesday night where it received and reviewed all facts relating to the July 14 governorship election.

Ologbondiya said in a separate statement that the party said after “a thorough examination of all hard facts the NWC reconfirmed that the INEC doctored the result of the election to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC)”.

It noted that apart from huge discrepancies between the actual votes cast at the polling centres and the results released by INEC, there were evidence that INEC pulled down the original result from its data base to accommodate the alterations.

“The NWC also has evidence indicating that the original result was in favour of the PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, before the figures were altered.The NWC, after very exhaustive examination of all facts, reconfirms that the PDP candidate, Eleka, clearly won the July 14, 2018, governorship election.”

“The NWC called on the leadership of INEC to immediately correct their results, apologise to the people of Ekiti State and be ready to admit their falsifications before the tribunal, so as to return our mandate which was stolen at ‘gun point’ on July 14,” it said.

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