The party claimed that the move is a plot by INEC, the AGF and the
APC to rob the Kogi people of their right to freely and fairly choose
their leader.
Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada and opponent, Abubakar Audu(Kogi Reports)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the resignation of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami, for advising that the All Progressives Congress (APC) could field another candidate to replace the late Abubakar Audu in the Kogi governorship election.
Seemingly
adopting the Attorney General's advise, the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier announced that it would allow
the APC to substitute Audu, as a rerun election in 91 polling units was
slated for December 5.
In a statement signed by the PDP's spokesman, Olisa Metuh, the party expressed shock at INEC's decision, questioning its credibility as an 'independent' body.
“INEC,
a supposedly independent electoral umpire, could allow itself to
succumb to the antics of the APC by following the unlawful directive of
an obviously partisan AGF to substitute a candidate in the middle of the
ballot process”, the statement said.
The
party claimed that the move is a plot by INEC, the AGF and the APC to
rob the Kogi people of their right to freely and fairly choose their
leader.
The statement further read: “We
are all aware that the two legal documents guiding INEC in the conduct
of elections; the Constitution and the Electoral Act, have provisions
for electoral exigencies as well as empower the electoral body to fully
take responsibility for any of its actions or inaction without undue
interference from any quarters whatsoever.
“We
are therefore at a loss as to which sections of these two relevant
laws, INEC and the AGF relied on in arriving at their bizarre decision
to substitute a dead candidate in an on-going election even after the
timelines for such has elapsed under all the rules.
“INEC
as a statutory body has the full complements of technical hands in its
legal department to advice it appropriately and we wonder why it had to
wait for directives from the AGF, an external party, if not for partisan
and subjective interest”.
It added that the development is “a
brazen move by the APC and INEC to circumvent the laws and ambush the
yet-to-be concluded election by introducing a practice that is
completely alien to the constitution and the Electoral Act”.
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