The All Progressives Congress has claimed that the Jonathan administration and the Peoples Democratic Party are pushing for another postponement of the 2015 general elections.
The APC alleged that the PDP is trying to perfect a rigging plan in the interim and called for the imposition of global sanctions on whoever scuttles the polls.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said efforts to prevent the elections from holding on March 28 and April 11 include the use of some 23 political parties to seek a further shift in the election dates and the destabilization of INEC’s election plan through the orchestrated removal of its Chairman, Attahiru Jega.
The party said the same parties that were used to push for the six-week postponement of the elections are again pushing for a further shift in the elections in the six-states of the North-east, to allow for the conclusion of the counter-insurgency battle and also to allow those displaced to return home.
The APC said “The plan is to use the same bogey of insecurity in the North-east to push for another postponement in the elections. The signs are ominous indeed. The body language of the President and his party does not support the holding of elections. They are mortally afraid of losing because the use of PVCs and Card Readers has thwarted their rigging plans,”
The party said while the 23 parties are pushing for the elections to be further postponed, the Jonathan Administration and the PDP are simultaneously forging ahead with their plan to remove Mr. Jega and replace him with a malleable acting chairman whom, they believe, will do their bidding.
“Is it not interesting that the same Administration that has been flaunting free and fair elections as a key achievement has now gone for the jugular of the same man who organized those polls? Is the man they don’t want not the same person who organized the 2011 polls which the Administration has described as free, fair and credible? What has now gone wrong between them and their poster boy for successful elections?” the APC said.
APC warned that the consequences of another shift of the elections would create a constitutional crisis capable of endangering Nigeria’s democracy and destabilizing the country in its entirety.
It said “We believe that Nigerians themselves bear the utmost responsibility for the success of their nation’s democracy and the survival of their country, and we commend those who have stood up to be counted in the ongoing battle to have free and fair elections.
The party called on Nigerians, especially the civil society, to be very vigilant in the days ahead, as the cloud of uncertainty becomes thicker and the vultures begin to circle.
It also called on the international community to consider imposing stiff sanctions on key members of the Jonathan Administration if they force another postponement or scuttle the polls.
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