Poll’s shift: Buhari campaign group tackles PDP over comment

Brickbats are still flying over the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its main challenger Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were yesterday trading blames on what triggered the shift, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) attributed its 11th hour postponement to logistics problems.

According to the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO), INEC’s decision to postpone the  elections scuttled “a massive rigging plot” by the opposition.

But the PDP accused the APC and the Presidency of sabotaging the INEC in an alleged orchestrated plot to engineer a staggered presidential election.

The PDP said that President Muhammadu Buhari and APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole merely played to the gallery by their open condemnation of INEC by shifting the poll early Saturday.

BCO was reacting to claims made by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) of an alleged plan by President Buhari to suspend INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu and replace him with Amina Zakari as acting chairman under the guise of the commission’s inability to conduct the national elections.

But, in a statement yesterday by its Director of Communications and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, the BCO said the reverse was the case, as INEC deliberately shifted the polls to thwart the opposition’s plan to rig the elections.

The group noted that the alarm raised by the CUPP over the INEC chairman was a perfect plan to cover up for the massive rigging plotted by the PDP, which left the electoral body with no other option than to take the step it took.

Ibrahim said: “The attention of the BCO has been drawn to a statement by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in which it accused President Muhammadu Buhari of trying to sack INEC chairman. This came few hours after the Presidency had issued a statement expressing the president’s disappointment with the postponement of the elections.

“The basis for the claims made by CUPP is that President Buhari, like every other Nigerian, expressed misgivings about the election shift. The truth, however, is that the opposition, with its shrill voice, is merely diverting attention from the revelation that they had perfected plans to rig the polls, using huge sums of money, which they distributed on the eve of the postponed elections.

“Based on intelligence report that money had been shared by the opposition on the eve of the polls to buy voters, INEC decided to shift the elections to save the country from the sinister plot by the opposition to wheel the country back to the dark days of rigging and manipulation of the electoral process to rob Nigerians of their right to decide who becomes their leader.”

The BCO urged Nigerians to be patient with INEC, adding that the commission’s decision to shift the elections was taken to save democracy from the fangs of corrupt politicians in the opposition who think elections in Nigeria can never be free, fair and credible.

Ibrahim added: “We also urge Nigerians to be steadfast and watch out against corrupt political elements in the opposition who are bent on manipulating the electoral process in a desperate bid to return to power at all cost to continue their looting spree.

“INEC took the decision of shifting the polls in good faith and we in the BCO are solidly behind the electoral body. President Buhari has assured severally that he will ensure the same free and fair process that brought him to power, and this he will surely do.”

However, the PDP accused the governing party of planning to sell a staggered presidential election idea to the INEC, saying that “this was contrary to the simulated stance by the Presidency and the national chairman of the APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, in condemning the postponement of the February 16 elections.”

In a statement yesterday by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP recalled what it described as its ceaseless protests against the continued retention of Mrs. Amina Zakari at a strategic post in INEC.

The opposition party reiterated its position that Mrs. Zakari is a relation of President Muhammadu Buhari who is seeking re-election on the platform of the APC.

The statement reads: “We have been reliably informed that the same Amina Zakari and another high-ranking INEC commissioner played a pivotal role in assisting the APC and Buhari Presidency in sabotaging the operations of INEC and scuttling the February 16 elections.

“The reason for this is that President Buhari is determined to have a staggered election where he can use security agencies to subvert the will of the people at the polls.

“These APC elements in INEC engineered actions that affected the distribution and delivery of INEC sensitive materials to designated locations, thereby frustrating the electoral process.

“We also have details of how a hired team of data hackers corrupted the voters register, with a view to causing mass confusion and voters suppression on Election Day.

“Nigerians would have been shocked that many registered voters in possession of their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) would have arrived at their polling centres on election day, only to discover to their amazement that their names had disappeared from the register in their units.”

According to the PDP, intelligence report at its disposal further detailed how agents of the Buhari Presidency allegedly infiltrated the distribution system and ensured that sensitive election materials did not arrive at the designated locations; with the view to stalling elections in several states and paving the way for a staggered election.

Ologbodiyan alleged: “This is in addition to deliberate swapping of sensitive election materials between different states and local governments so as to muddle up the process and stall election in affected areas. In some of the states like Edo, sensitive election materials did not arrive at their designated points on APC interruption.”

He said the opposition party had a pact to stand with Nigerians.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu explained to stakeholders’ at a meeting what informed the shifting of the election.

At the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja, venue of the meeting, Prof Yakubu said that he took responsibility for the postponement.

Many of the stakeholders, including former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka, who stood in for the PDP National Chairman, commented on the INEC explanation.