Fed Govt warns against ‘plan to truncate electoral process’

THE Federal Government has strongly warned against alleged plan by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to truncate the electoral process and render the elections held on Saturday inconclusive.

According to the Minister  of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued yesterday in Oro, Kwara State, the opposition’s plan was to trigger a constitutional crisis and push for an interim government.

He said the PDP has started laying the groundwork for a constitutional crisis by unleashing its spokesmen, including Buba Galadima, Osita Chidoka and Femi Fani-Kayode, on the public space to claim victory from Saturday’s election, even when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to announce the result – an action that the statement said “amounts to a clear case of impunity”.

Mohammed said by usurping the role of INEC through the announcement of result, the PDP has violated the Electoral Act and should face very serious consequences.

The minister said: “By announcing the result and saying they have won the February 23rd election, the PDP is deliberately seeking to confuse the polity and lay the foundation for rejecting the outcome if, when INEC eventually announces the result, the party does not win.

“This confirms what we said in a series of pre-election press conferences, that the PDP – realising it cannot win a free and fair election – will do everything possible to scuttle the polls, failing which it will proceed to the next stage, which is to discredit the entire electoral process, including the result, with the ultimate aim of precipitating a constitutional crisis and pushing for an interim government.”

He also noted the alarm raised by the Federal Government over the PDP’s decision to set up a parallel electoral body, under the tag of Parallel Voting Tabulation (PVT) System, which the opposition party described as a tool that will determine whether or not it accepts the results of the elections.

“We said, then, that while it is standard practice for political parties to have their own monitoring systems during elections, what is

not standard is to set up a pseudo-electoral commission and imbue it with the power to collate and announce results as the PDP is now doing under the guise of PVT. Unfortunately, our warning has proven to be prescient,” Mohammed said.

The minister wondered why those who parade themselves as democrats would show such disdain for the electoral process, which is a key ingredient of democracy.

He called on the security agencies to nip in the bud the constitutional crisis that the PDP is working frantically to trigger, by immediately arresting and prosecuting anyone, who announces the result of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.