The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of trying to dictate its affairs over the convening of its 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The opposition party also declared President Bola Tinubu a one-term president, claiming that his approach to governance portrays him as such.
The national publicity secretary of PDP, Hon Debo Ologungaba said this at a press briefing in Abuja while reacting to INEC’s response to the party’s letter wherein the commission faulted the party’s failure to comply with a section of party regulations and guidelines which required the national chairman and national secretary to sign the notice for such a meeting.
Following the protracted impasse over national secretary position, the acting national chairman of PDP, Amb Umar Illiya Damagum, had signed a notification letter to INEC to hold its 100th NEC meeting on June 30 this year.
But Ologungaba said the party notified INEC as a matter of courtesy, adding that it was not bound to write the commission as the meeting was not for election, merger nor change of party officials as provided by the law.
He added that who signed the party’s letter should be of no concern to INEC since it is a party affair as ruled by the Supreme Court.
The party spokesman, who said the motion for its 100th NEC meeting was unanimously moved by NEC members at the 99th NEC, said “It must be clear that INEC has no role whatsoever in participating in regular meetings of these bodies that I’ve drawn to you. They have no role at all. And then you can see some of the distressing things coming from INEC, which of course is very unfortunate”.
The PDP mouth piece to buttress this point, quoted part 2, 12 of Election guidelines as published by INEC which clarified when the commission must not be notified if NEC or convention is not for election or merger purposes.
“To the extent that when we’re holding NWC meetings, we don’t tell INEC. When we’re holding the regular NEC meetings, we don’t tell INEC. Except as provided for in the Electoral Act, that is the only time that you need to give a 21 days’ notice to INEC is as provided in the Electoral Act as well as the guideline of INEC.
“And the exception is this, we must make report to INEC if we have a convention that is elective, if we have congresses that are elected, if we have primaries where somebody will emerge as a candidate, because we have to make a report to INEC. We are duty bound under the law and the regulation of INEC to say, we’re giving you 21 days notice.
“So if there are conventions that produce members of national working committees, they will be there to monitor and to observe the process, and so that when reports are being sent by the party it will tally with what they have.
“We never mentioned here that we are conducting a meeting to elect officers. We didn’t say we are going to do primaries to get nominated for an elective position. We didn’t say we are meeting because we are considering possibility of merger. So where does Halilu Aminu, where did he get that from?
“So he decided on his own to import a purpose for a meeting to satisfy some vested interest, to ensure that they can continue to stifle the capacity of PDP to do his things in line with this Constitution.
“So how this acting secretary decided on his own to create and become a member of a political party and create for us an agenda that was not conveyed in the letter of the Acting National Chairman? And so the challenge for us now as a party is to say, who is the acting secretary of INEC? Who is he working for? What is the objective? Why is he creating an agenda for our party for a regular statutory meeting that is routine?” Ologunagba said.
He said that the agenda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is bent on foisting one party state on the country but added that it will not succeed.
He also ridiculed the spate of defections, noting however that Nigerians are not in sync with politicians who, he claimed, have chosen to move to a party that does not mean well for the country.
“I think Nigerians are interested in 2027. APC should know that President Tinubu is a one-time president. What is happening today are recipes for a one-time president,” he said.
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