BEING TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE NATIONAL VICE CHAIRMAN, SOUTH WEST PDP, OLOROGUN EDDY OLAFESO, IN LAGOS ON FRIDAY.
We are all witnesses to the abuses that characterized the general elections of Saturday 23rd February and the double standard which ensured that electoral guidelines adopted for the election guaranteed different approaches to its conduct both in the Northern and Southern part of our nation. While it is compulsory that card reader be employed in the South and absolute requisite for ballot casting, it was put in abeyance in the North, yet the election was meant to produce the President of the Federal Republic, this is double standard and totally unacceptable.
This clearly confirms that INEC was obviously ill-prepared and equally did not set out to conduct a credible election, in this respect we query whatever rationale that will make it accept mutilated results from States like Nasarawa, Kano, Yobe and Bornu amongst many others. In these States and indeed many others, we are particularly amazed when due credence is given to the fact that the number of votes surpass accreditedvoters, even more surprising is the many vote cancellations in places where the PDP won. Borno State, the main centre of strive, acrimony and war, put to lie every demographic principles and returned more votes than Lagos, a state at peace, in this election.
We also note the violence that characterized the elections across the South West particularly in Lagos, Oyo and Osun States. It is important to state loud and clear that those crisis were perpetrated by members of the APC who were so scared of the defeat they would have suffered in those places where they prosecuted their violent agenda. The recourse to violence was dictated by the reality that they were set to lose the elections to the PDP and quickly resorted to hooliganism and thuggery in those States to abort the will of the people. It is a great disservice to the nation that Security Agencies mobilized and deployed for elections in those places remained lethargic andfailed to protect the ballot, this is disappointing.
We also condemn the prosecution of violence elsewhere across the nation, particularly the fact that the military descended massively into the partisan fray, we find this absurd. The military and indeed the security agencies should not be politicized as has been accomplished by the Buhari administration, they remain crucial and critical institutions of State that must continue to command respect, trust and confidence of all Nigerians, sadly their current outlook will deny them all the aforementioned and that portend great danger for our democracy and country.
We also note the obscene and arrogant display of wealth by the APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who caused two bullion vans to deliver billions of Naira to his house on the eve of the election, this action of undue extravagance is indeed a direct assault to the psyche of millions of Nigerians who have since been sentenced to penury by the APC government of which he is an integral part.
The Party leadership in the South West thus firmly declare that His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar and the National Working Committee of the Party must immediately commence diligent prosecution of actions to expose the fraudulent elections with a serious view to reclaim the stolen mandate. We cannot be taken serious as a people when leadership does not give due credence to the electoral desires of the people and respect theirfranchise. It is sad that the gains of the 2015 elections could be this abashedly repudiated by the Buhari Presidency.
Therefore we want to warn that the PDP will not tolerate and allow APC thugs disrupt the next round of elections, it is important to underscore the fact that the APC does not have the monopoly of violence, thus we call on the Security Agencies to live up to expectations and ensure that ballots will be protected and not disrupted any longer, anything short of this expectation is certainly a recipe for crisis, we reiterate that we have been civil and law abiding this far, however, we want to warn that our civility is not an act of weakness, a word they say is enough for the wise.
We are greatly indebted to the people of the South West region who voted massively for our Party, by this action, we have again brought to the fore our collective independentmindedness, urbane disposition, patriotism and uniqueness. For us ethnicity did not matter, the desire to make Nigeria work again dictated the choice for an Atiku Presidency. We are proud of their trust in our Party and we appreciate them so much.
In view of the foregoing, we therefore call on our people across the region to vote massively for the PDP in the forthcoming Gubernatorial elections in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States.
This election also present an opportunity for the people of the three States, particularly Lagos to get freedom from the vicious grip of an acclaimed “Governor-General” who continues to rape the State and even others within his “protectorate” serially and severally, we owe ourselves and future generations this responsibility.
It is also pertinent to mention that elections into the States Houses of Assembly holds same day, we thus ask our dear people to vote for the PDP in those elections.
We pledge that we will not fail you, we will pursue developments across the region and the commonwealth will not be subjected to the whims and caprices of just one man as it currently obtains.
Conclusively, we declare that our nation must be liberated from the current maladministration that we have been subjected to, the PDP will pursue the reclamation of this stolen mandate through the instrumentalities of the law.
I thank you once again, for finding time to be here today.
Olorogun Eddy Olafeso
National Vice Chairman
South-West Zone.
