From Abubakar Suleiman MAPSA
The opposition People's Democratic party PDP in Nasarawa state Monday denounced publication purportedly published in the social media that the party pulled out of the council polls due to high cost of nomination fee, crisis in the party and the pending legal tussle amongst others.
Reacting to the purported publication in a statement, Chairman of the party, Hon. Francis Orogu said the party made its stand clear on the local government elections in Nasarawa state.
According to the statement, "We are boycotting the forthcoming Local councils elections in Nasarawa state because NASIEC didn't give the opposition parties substantial reasons to build confidence on the credibility, assurance of fairness and equity and credibility in the conduct of the council elections"
"Our reasons for pulling out of LG Election are numerous and clearly spelt out by the executive committee of the party. It is astonishing seeing report of this kind published without cross checking the facts".
"The State Executive Committee (SEC) Met including majority of the members after an intensive deliberations on key issues of the moments, unanimously agreed that the inability of the State government to amend the State Electoral bill to allow the announcement of election results of councilor at the Ward level and that of the chairmanship at the Local Government headquarters respectively were pointer to the fact that the elections will be manipulated and rigged"
Orogu said, Since this was not done, it then mean that it's going to be business as usual for the APC to ambush other political parties with unimaginable electoral frauds.
"Therefore, PDP cannot afford to waste her precious time, energy nor cheaply allow the innocent commoners go into election that the results and the winners are already scripted".
According to the party Chairman, how can a Journalist claim that the Francis Orogu leadership is embroiled in an internal squabble with members of the PDP, resulting in a high court order barring the party from holding its congresses when members of the party including all the Stakeholders, majority members participated and agreed on the way forward on the council polls.
"He is just out to blackmail me and the party nothing more. In fact his expressions look as if it is coming from an aggrieved party member not a reporter, check it out.
But it is ok, let God be the judge".
The Party Chairman made it equivocally cleared and loud that PDP pulled
out of the contest not only because of the outrageous nominations fee, but most importantly because it is visibly clear that NASIEC is not ready to be free fair or independent in the conduct of the so called election.
The procedures and processes of the take off by NASIEC speaks volumes.
He further explained that NASIEC meeting with IPAC was not particularly for any political party, PDP has no elected representative in that forum, and that is not to say the Meeting with the forum was out of place, but PDP as an opposition party have never been invited for any meeting at any level regarding this so called LG elections.
And for the record, for those who choose to reporters of doom, PDP as a political party in Nasarawa State from the ward Exco up to the state via the local govt has no single division or disagreement on any issues.
"What is ongoing is that some individuals believe that there are some matters regarding the party congress that should be address, and that explains why they are in court. And that has nothing to do with our well known established capacity to take up on the coordinated and on focused APC government of AA sule off his feet, we have done it before, and we can do it again and again.
The people need us, and we will do our best to put a check on the state bad governance.
