APC rejects call to postpone elections

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the call by
the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, for the
postponement of next month’s general elections ostensibly to
give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
more time to distribute all Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs),
warning that under no circumstance must the elections be
scuttled.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the
call by Col.\ Dasuki, during an event at the Chatham House in
London yesterday, has exposed the hitherto clandestine plot
by the Jonathan administration to push for the postponement
of the polls, using all sorts of cheap tricks.
“Now that we have found the smoking gun, we are urging the
international community, in particular, to urgently extract a
commitment from President Goodluck Jonathan that the
elections will hold as scheduled next month, and that he
would respect the outcome, just as we have said,” it said.
APC said Col. Dasuki was only seeking to buy time for
Jonathan campaign to gather steam by hinging his
postponement call on the delay in PVC distribution, adding:
“They know for sure that if they don’t postpone the elections,
there is no way they can win. They are just terrified.”
The party also called on Nigerians to reject in its entirety the
ongoing orchestrated plot by the Jonathan administration to
postpone the elections, saying the constitutional crisis that
would be triggered by such postponement was capable of
undermining the nation’s democracy.
“After realising that it will be rejected by Nigerians who have
borne the brunt of its mis-governance over the years, after
realising that its campaign of calumny against our presidential
candidate has failed, the Jonathan administration has now
started to play its last card, which is the postponement of the
election,’’ it said.
APC said the importance of elections cannot be over-
emphasised, adding: “Election is the lifeblood of democracy,
the mechanism by which modern representative democracy
operates. It is the only way for the citizenry to renew and
refresh the governing process so they can get the most
benefits out of democracy. Therefore, anyone that tries to
sabotage this mechanism is aiming a dagger straight to the
heart of democracy.”
Government should not tinker with election timelines – Atiku
Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has urged that the general
elections in the country should hold as scheduled next month.
He warned that government must not tinker with the option of
postponing the elections.
“Yes, we have a problem with the distribution of PVCs but the
position of my party, the APC, is that since we have a voters’
register, then that should be used in conducting the elections.
I also believe there is enough time between now and the
elections to issue everyone with their PVCs,” Atiku said shortly
on arrival in the country.
The former vice president, who landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport yesterday after a medical vacation trip,
said the call made by the National Security Adviser, Col
Sambo Dasuki, for a postponement of the elections was
uncalled for and portended a dangerous signal about the
intentions of the Federal Government to conduct free, fair and
credible polls in February.
Atiku was quoted to have said in the statement signed by his
media office that he is “strong, healthy and happy” to be back
to lend his support to the train of change sweeping across the
country.
“The duty of participating in the process of change which our
great party, the APC is committed to supersedes every other
consideration. For me, participating in this campaign is a call
to national duty.
“It is a duty which we cannot afford to compromise upon and
we must press into the consciousness of those at the helms
of affairs that it is morally dubious and socially unacceptable
to extend the dates of the elections by a single day from the
scheduled timelines,” the former Vice President said.