leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party might have perfected a fresh
strategy aimed at stalling the March 28
presidential election.
Investigations by Punch in Abuja on
Thursday and Friday showed that the
ruling party was actually the brain behind
those who registered Young Democratic
Party and that it may use this new party
to achieve its objective.
The new party had on Thursday asked
the Independent National Electoral
Commission to postpone the forthcoming
general elections.
The party said this a day after the
Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the
commission to register YDP as a political
party.
At a press briefing in Abuja, the party
called on INEC to re-schedule the general
elections if it could not accommodate it
on its ballot paper.
It said that contrary to insinuations, the
court did not order INEC to only register
the party, but added that the commission
was ordered to issue certificate and
include YDP in the 2015 elections.
National Publicity Secretary of YDP, Mr.
Ugo Nwofor, said there were only two
options available to INEC, saying the
commission could either reprint its ballot
papers and include the party with a view
to accommodate the party’s candidates or
shift the elections.
Nwafor said, “If INEC does not have the
appropriation for logistics for reprinting of
its ballot papers then INEC ought to
within the constitutional provision further
re-schedule the general election so as to
accommodate our party.
“In either of the two options, our party is
ready, it has been a long journey for
YDP; we wish INEC would explore the
first option.”
Shortly after the press briefing, one of the
brains behind the YDP was seen at the
national headquarters of the PDP in Abuja
on Thursday evening, where he said he
had come to confer with some of its
officers.
In a confidential discussion with our
correspondent, he said he had come to
brief the party on the success of their
legal work which made the court to order
that the new party be registered.
When our correspondent called him on the
telephone on Friday whether they were
planning a fresh legal option to compel
INEC to comply with the court order, he
answered in the affirmative.
According to him, “Recall that I was at
the national headquarters of the ruling
party in Abuja on Thursday where I met
our partners. We are working together to
move the nation forward and deepen our
renascent democracy.
“We have already fixed the dates for our
convention and we would pick our
presidential and other candidates for the
elections. We expect INEC to give us a
chance as stated in the court order.”
However, it was learnt that one of the
strategies of the ruling party in connection
with the YDP is to head for the court
and ask that the presidential election be
set aside, by pleading that the party was
excluded.
“This is what we would do if President
Jonathan loses the elections,” a source at
the national headquarters of the party
added.
But if the president wins, it was gathered
that the party would not show any
interest in pursuing any case in the court.
Nwofor, however, said that the party was
interested in contesting the election, adding
that this was in compliance with Sections
85 and 87 of the electoral Act.
“Because of this, the party has fixed its
governorship/House of Assembly and
Presidential and National Assembly
primaries for March 26 and 27
respectively,” he added.
It was gathered that the party cleverly
picked the dates in order to make sure
that the election slated for March 28 does
not hold or to make it have a legal proof
for exclusion.
The party was believed to have known
that submission of candidates list for
elections expired 60 days to the election.
An INEC official said that the “commission
and Nigerians are aware of the provision
of the law on this.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment