Electoral Bill: APC, PDP in verbal war

President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to veto the Electoral Act Amendment Bill sparked a fresh verbal confrontation between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday.

While the APC alleged a plot by the PDP to hack into INEC’s data base if the bill had succeeded, the opposition party said its rejection by the President was part of the plans by the ruling party to rig the 2019 elections.

Speaking with reporters in Abuja yesterday, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Yekini Nabena, said the PDP was perfecting plans to use Russian agents to hack into the data base of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manipulate the results of the 2019 elections.

He said the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were insisting on the President signing the Electoral Act amendment bill into law because it would afford them the opportunity  to carry out the plans they had hatched during their recent Dubai outing.

Some of the proposals in the 2018 Electoral Act amendment bill rejected by the President include electronic transmission of results, submission of list of candidates not earlier than 120 days before primary and not more than 90 days to election and ceding the power to order elections to the National Assembly instead of INEC, among others.

But Nabena wondered why the opposition party were afraid of using the 2015 Electoral Act for the elections when they were the ones that created it in the first place.

“Is it the APC that created the incident form?” Nabena queried

He alleged that complaint about the president not signing the electoral act was one of the strategies being employed by the PDP to create tension in the electoral process after failing to incite organised labour against the government over the minimum wage issue.

He said: “The electoral Act we are using now was created by the PDP.

“You created a bill and now you are afraid to use the bill that you created. Does that sound right?

“What the PDP is doing right now is playing out what they designed in Dubai.

“They started with inciting a strike from Labour on the minimum wage to cause problem in the country, it didn’t work.

“They brought ASUU strike which also did not work and they now tried to create fuel scarcity. These were all part of the plots they planned in Dubai.

“The next plan is snow on the Electoral Act amendment bill. Their plan is that if the President refuses to sign the bill, they will go and demonstrate, and we are waiting for them.

“How can you put in the bill that once the votes are cast, you just transmit instead of counting first? That is part of their Dubai plot.

“They planned to bring some Russians to help them hack into the system. That is their joker. Once the President signs the bill, they will just bring in the Russians to help them hack into the system.

“They have their plan to hack into the system, input their figures after results have been transmitted electronically, which will now be announced.

“We all know what they are trying to do. They are also trying to bring money into the system.

“All these vote buying won’t work because they have failed this time around.

“Look at Obasanjo who is talking. PDP set up all these electoral bills. Was it the APC that introduced incident form? So, why are they afraid of their own shadow?

“Let us just pray that God will see us through this election.”

‘Opposition plotting national crisis’

Nabena was emphatic that recent agitations and strike notices were part of the plots by the opposition “because they want those distractions in the system so that they will tell Nigerians that APC cannot handle the situation in the country.

“You can see that everybody is now coming out to demand what they think is due to them in one way or the other because they know that the election is coming. They want that distraction so that they can capitalize on that.”

The APC spokesman also said that the militancy in the Niger Delta and attacks on pipelines have been curtailed because of the leadership brought to bear on the nation by President Buhari, alleging that those responsible for the pipeline attacks were the same people getting the contract to protect them.

He said: “That is where you see the difference. A man from the Niger Delta was there. It is still the same people that negotiated with the people that are blowing up the pipelines.

“Who are the people that own the contract to monitor the pipelines? Who are the people that goes back at the end of the day to do the job?

“But in this administration, there is no space for that.”

APC conniving with INEC to rig 2019 polls —PDP

Addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged APC’s desperation to foist President Buhari back on Nigerians against the wish of the majority.

He said: “The whole world has now seen that the only reason President Buhari has refused to sign the Electoral Act is because he knows that there is no way he can win in a peaceful, credible, free and fair election.

“President Buhari is not ready for elections. His only hope in contesting the election is getting INEC and security forces to assist him and the APC to rig.

“For PDP, our party and Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are ready for the election, but we caution INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to note that by playing the Buhari/APC rigging script, it is running on collision course with the people.

“This anti-democratic tendency may attract dire consequences as Nigerians are now, more than ever before, ready, willing and resolute to take back their country from the incompetent, divisive and arrogantly corrupt Buhari administration, come 2019.  Enough is Enough.”

Ologbondiyan added: “Having realised that there is no way they can win in a credible, free and fair presidential election, the Buhari Presidency and the APC, in cahoots with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have been engaged in series of provocative machinations aimed to corrupt the electoral process, trigger violent dissentions and ultimately derail our democratic process.

“You will recall that on Thursday, the PDP vehemently rejected the plots by INEC and the Presidency to rig the election by creating illegal polling centres in Chad and Niger Republic, under the guise of ‘special arrangement’ for displaced Nigerians in those countries to participate in the presidential election.

“The PDP had exposed the plot to use such illegal centres for allocation of fictitious votes, massive ballot stuffing, voting by aliens, underage and unregistered persons to pull millions of fictitious votes in favour of President Buhari.

“Having been busted, INEC beat a retreat only to invent a fresh ruse by announcing that the ‘special arrangement’ would only be for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) within the shores of Nigeria while secretly retaining the illegal offshore voting plot.”

The party spokesman said intelligence available to the PDP indicated that instead of the open offshore voting centres, the Presidency had directed INEC to circumvent the checks by secretly opening illegal voting centres at the desert fringes and remote border lines with Chad and Niger, and use them to achieve its original plans to rig the presidential election.

According to the main opposition party, part of the plot is to use the illegal remote centres, which will not have functional Smart Card Readers, to allow unchecked voting by aliens, and underage persons as well as provide the unlimited latitude for allocation of fictitious votes for President Buhari and the APC.

The PDP also alleged plots to compromise security personnel operating in the affected areas to provide official cover for the rigging plot.

The PDP said: “Furthermore, it is instructive to inform Nigerians that as part of the Buhari Presidency’s rigging plot, INEC has been instructed to deploy defective Smart Card Readers to IDP camps, particularly in some strategic northern states, to pave way for direct manipulations, including alteration of voter register and voting by unregistered persons, particularly with the foreclosure of incident forms for manual accreditation.

“This grand plot to rig is the essential reason President Muhammadu Buhari has deliberately refused to sign the amendments to the Electoral Act, which among other things checked manual manipulation by insisting on the use of card readers for biometric accreditation of voters and elimination of over-voting.

“It is clear that the Buhari Presidency is desperate to re-enact the same rigging scenario, which, in 2015, allowed 13.5 million unauthorized persons to participate in the presidential election, paving the way for the illegal allocation of millions of fictitious votes to President Buhari and we urge Nigerians to unite in condemnation of this ignoble scheme.

“The PDP therefore rejects, as completely deceptive, the untenable assurances and lip service by this overtly compromised INEC that it can deliver a credible election without an across-the-board biometric accreditation of voters and the use incidence form.

“Our party completely rejects the plan by INEC to substitute biometric accreditation with manual verification on self-recognition and thumbprint on the voters register.

“Such primitive method of accreditation only opens the way for unlimited rigging, multiple, underage and alien voting, as well as ballot stuffing which will afford President Buhari and the APC (the chance) to manipulate themselves back to power against the wish of majority of Nigerians.

“The PDP, therefore in very unambiguous term, cautions INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu not to be used to set our nation on fire but to immediately retrace its steps and untangle itself from the wicked scheme of the APC as Nigerians will never allow them to have their way.

“For the purposes of emphasis, the PDP rejects all forms of fraudulent “special arrangements” tailored to rig this election. Our party insists that elections must only hold in statutorily designated polling centers across our country.

“The PDP and indeed, Nigerians are not ready to accept any fabricated result from any illegal polling center created to assist President Buhari to rig the election.”

Way out of APC crisis —Nabena

Speaking on the reconciliation efforts of the APC, Nabena lamented the selfish motives of some of the aggrieved party members, but said that the party must be ready to play give and take as a way of resolving the crisis in the party.

He said: “There is no doubt that people are aggrieved, but the good thing about APC is that there are people who love the party and the President genuinely.

“But there are people acting purely for their own selfish interest. For those who are acting on selfish interest, what do you want to give to them in the process of this reconciliation?

“You must have something to give to the next person for him to fall in line. But if you have nothing to offer him, what do you expect?

“So, when you set up peace and reconciliation committee, you must be sure that you achieve results.

“If I wanted to be a senatorial candidate and I did not get that, I will be looking out for whatever you want to offer me.

“The committees must have a package for such people from the party or the national chairman.

“Look at what is happening in Rivers State right now. We have some people that genuinely believe in the party and the President, but right now, they have gone to other parties but still working for the President.

“But there are those who are saying it must be me or nothing else. What are you going to do with such people?

“If you watch closely, all these people are not talking about the Presidential election. Where we are going to have problems as a party is the fact that some governors who were not given their preferred candidates may work against the party in such places out of selfishness.

“The chairman tried his best even though he has his own faults because he is human. But because of selfish interest, some of the governors wanted all the candidates from their states to be their preferred candidates. Such governors are likely to support their candidates who have moved to other parties.

“As a party, we have to be very careful so that we don’t have problems in the future, and that is why the committees must put up something for these people. It is evident that we are going to lose some senators because the governors will want to support their own candidates.

“If these senators don’t make it, they will also turn round to work against the governors during their own elections. So, that is part of our internal problems.

“That is why the committees must have the necessary give and take. Otherwise, they may not achieve the purpose for which they were set up.

Senate APC Caucus will resist moves to override Buhari’s veto —Gumel

Senator Abdullahi Gumel (APC Jigawa) has said that the Senate Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will resist fresh moves to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto of Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

Gumel, a member of the caucus who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, said the caucus would do everything possible to stop the move.

According to him, in spite of misleading reports that APC is now in the minority, the party is still in the majority and will ensure that those working to override the President’s veto do not succeed.

“We the APC caucus are with the President. Even if they want to override him, the APC caucus is in majority. So, they do not have the number.

“One of the concerns of the President about the bill is the provision for transmission of results electronically.

“It is not just picking a telephone and transmitting results. It is through an equipment.

“And it means 150,000 polling booths in the country, transmitting results from the booths to five places: state assembly, collation centre of House of Representatives, collation centre of senate to collation centre of the states to national data bank.

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“So, the results from these five places multiplied by 150,000 is enormous.

“INEC is yet to buy the equipment and people are not trained on this transmission and election is two months away.

“So, there is no way INEC will be able to transmit the election electronically even if the bill is signed into law by the President.

“Also, the ECOWAS protocol on elections should not be wished away.”

The lawmaker said reports that some APC lawmakers who lost in their bid to return in 2019 were teaming up with the opposition to override the President’s veto were not true.

He said all APC lawmakers both in the Senate and House of Representatives were still working together and solidly behind Buhari.

“So, the fear that some aggrieved APC lawmakers might work with PDP and other opposition parties to override the President’s veto is nothing for us to lose sleep over.

“Forget about being a candidate or not being a candidate; APC caucus is intact.

“For instance, I am not a candidate for the 2019 election, but I am still an APC Caucus member,” he said.

Gumel said those who held the view that Buhari declined assent to the bill because he was afraid of losing the 2019 election should look for a better allegation.

He pointed out that the Buhari he knew would not be afraid of losing elections.

President Buhari had on December 6 declined assent to the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018 for the fourth time.

In a letter to the National Assembly, Buhari said he withheld assent principally because passing a new electoral bill deep into the electoral process for the 2019 general elections could create uncertainty about the applicable legislation to govern the process.

The President also listed some drafting errors in the amendment bill.