The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the All Progressives Congress (APC), to learn from its presidential primary, on how elections should be conducted in the present day Nigeria.
The party’s comment followed the declaration of Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the PDP presidential primary which held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Atiku Abubakar polled 1, 532 votes to defeat 11 other aspirants.
According to them (PDP) the process has shown that the electoral umpire, in its manifest has been responsible for the electoral crises at various levels of elections. It also shows that our citizens, irrespective of their individual and group interests, are capable of holding peaceful and credible elections that meet global standards.
A statement by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, says, “the success of our presidential primary followed our strict adherence to democratic rules and principles of transparency and fairness, in the PDP Presidential primary, ensuring that votes count”.
The party further accused the electoral umpire of being compromised and creating openings for violence, manipulations, inconclusive polls and outright rigging of elections.
“We invite the whole world to note that the PDP conducted its Presidential primary and a clear winner, Atiku Abubakar, emerged, without any form of disagreements or reliance on heavy security, showing that Nigerians are peaceful, orderly and desirous of credible processes at all levels of political engagement.
“The PDP, therefore, charges INEC to stop blaming voters but accept responsibility for its failure to conduct credible elections and learn from our presidential primary, as we approach the 2019 general elections”.
