Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, led Federal Government of plotting to cripple the country’s democracy and overthrow the democratic rights of Nigerians.
The party further accused the APC led government of plotting to use certain hugely compromised electoral petition courts to snatch elections clearly won by the PDP.
Acting National Chairman of PDP, Amb. Umar Illiya, who addressed newsmen at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, said:
“Gentlemen of the press, we have invited you today to express serious concerns over the underhanded design by the APC, to cripple our democracy, overthrow the democratic rights of Nigerians, suppress the rule of law and downgrade our nation to a fiefdom run by the whims of a cabal.
“On Wednesday, our party alerted that our nation is fast sliding into totalitarianism following the activities of a cabal in the Presidency which is out to emasculate institutions of democracy, especially the Judiciary in the desperation to subvert and overturn the expressed will of Nigerians in the various election matters across the country.
“Of particular concern is the perverse pattern and attempts by the APC to use certain hugely compromised electoral petition courts to snatch elections clearly won by the PDP and award them to the defeated candidates of the APC, who were rejected by the people at the polls in most States across the country.
“This sinister agenda tailored towards a systemic emasculation of the opposition and foisting of an oppressive one-party system is evident in the conduct and outcome of certain election petitions in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Delta, Ogun and other States of the nation where the election petition and appeal panels were used to rob the PDP of victory won at the polls.
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“Also of serious concern is the continuing stay of the patently bias Plateau State Election Appeal Court Panel sitting in Abuja despite widespread demands by the people of Plateau State and the PDP for its immediate disbandment having regards to its varying and contradictory judgments against the PDP, which are also in conflict with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, INEC’s Guidelines and Regulations for elections.
“You will recall that on November 1, 2023, our party addressed a press conference in which we alerted Nigerians of the dangerous pattern of conflicting judicial pronouncements by the Plateau State Election Appeal Court Panel to decimate and alter the expressed Will of the people of Plateau State in the 2023 National Assembly Elections.
“Our party at that press conference, also raised concerns over allegations in the public domain that the Plateau State Election Appeal Court Panel has been hugely compromised and induced by the APC and the cabal to defy the Will of the people at the elections.
“Allegedly in the bid to assist the APC, the Plateau State Election Appeal Court Panel, in clear departure from well-established judicial precedents on matters settled by the Supreme Court, delivered varying, contradictory and conflicting judgments on election Appeals with the same subject matter, same facts, same circumstances and same applicable laws in bias judgements clearly skewed against the PDP in favour of the APC.
“Our party exposed how, in a bizarre pattern, the Plateau State Election Appeal Court Panel ordered a rerun where the PDP won and the APC came third, while where the APC came second, it ordered that the Certificate of Return issued to the victorious PDP candidate be withdrawn and a new Certificate of Return be issued to the defeated APC candidate, who came second in the election.
“Of course, the judgments immediately heightened apprehension in the state being a recipe for anarchy and chaos in an already tensed Plateau State.
“This is especially as our party duly conducted our primary elections in Plateau State in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and which was appropriately monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,” the party added.
