APC Hits Back At PDP After Calling For The Resignation Of Two Govt Officials.

APC Hits Back At PDP After Calling For The Resignation Of Two Govt Officials.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the red flag over the demand by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the resignation of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu and the Inspector- General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over alleged bias in their conduct towards the opposition.

National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, had, last week, called for the resignation of the IGP and INEC chairman for the role they allegedly played in off-season elections in different parts of the country.

However, the ruling party said that PDP had, by its demand, embarked on scaremongering to paint these two institutions in bad light in order to discredit them in the eyes of the public. APC also said the call was another reminder of how the PDP government serially abused state institutions in the pursuit of selfish political and economic interests, adding that “PDP is now being haunted by its sordid past and the ruinous party is now scampering from its own shadow.”

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC said the call by PDP was suspicious. “We are amused by the latest utterances of PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, calling on the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to resign on account of PDP’s baseless suspicions ahead of the 2019 general elections,” the statement said. It regretted that “the once boisterous PDP, having undermined the country for 16 years through mindless undemocratic actions, has now become a caricature of a political party.”

According to APC, it is now apparent that PDP, in a bid to hide its inadequacies and undesirability as elections approach, has chosen to populate the public space with unfounded allegations. “APC continues to stand for and would defend a participatory democracy where elections are transparent, credible, free and fair.

“We also call on relevant agencies to monitor PDP as its recent utterances are a red flag. “We must prevent a reoccurrence of PDP’s typical undemocratic practices during elections. Never again will a selfish few distort the wishes of the electorate,” the statement added.

In a swift response, PDP justified its demand. It said calling for the resignation of the two officials was based on empirical evidence of their partisanship roles in recent elections in the country. PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, told New Telegraph that Nigerians were aware of the alleged partisanship of INEC and the police in the past.

The party’s spokesperson said PDP would not join APC on mudslinging as it believes in issue-based campaigns and not the use of state apparatchik to intimidate voters and rig elections. Ologbondiyan urged state institutions to ensure neutrality in their conduct and operations, noting that the call was due to the observed lapses in INEC officials and policemen in the conduct of recent elections across the country.