The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said Saturday’s judgement of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is the clearest indication yet that the PDP has started harvesting what it sowed in its years of impunity and recklessness, hence it should blame itself for whatever tragedy has now befallen it.
In a statement in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP has always been
a party of anything goes, hence it is a matter of time for the party
to come to grief, first by tumbling from the pinnacle of power and now
by losing, incrementally, whatever remains of its crumbled empire.
It said the PDP was only trifling by attributing the judgement to a
supposed manipulation from the Presidency.
”President Muhammadu Buhari as well as his party, the APC, are strong
believers in the rule of law, as against the rule of impunity, hence
will never manipulate the judiciary for whatever reason.
”The PDP is clearly aware of this, but has chosen to blame everyone
but itself for the fate that has befallen it. The PDP should have
known that it will pay for its years of impunity and recklessness. For
this party, the chicken has now come home to roost,” APC said.
The party said if the PDP is not blaming the judiciary, its favourite
whipping boy, it is blaming the APC, the Presidency or even Nigerians
for its plight, warning it to stop shifting responsibility.
”PDP should leave the judiciary, the Presidency and the APC alone and
accept responsibility for its actions. From the judgement of the
Tribunal, it is clear that the impunity of the PDP cost it the
election. Not only did the party breach Section 78 (b) (1) (2) of the
Electoral Act concerning the organization of party primaries, it was
not even deemed to have participated in the April 11th 2015
governorship election in Taraba State in the eyes of the law.
”Apart from not complying with the Electoral Act, the election of
the PDP candidate, Mr. Darius Ishaku, in the purported primaries in
Abuja was done after the stipulated time for party primaries had
elapsed, according to the Tribunal. It is thus clear that the election
result in Taraba was not annulled for any other reason but the
impunity and recklessness that permeated the life and times of the
cadaverous PDP.
”It is noteworthy that this is not the first time the court is ruling against
PDP’s impunity of violating its own constitutional provisions and the
Electoral Aact with regards to ensuring internal democracy in the conduct
of primary elections.
”The first landmark judgment came from the Supreme Court when it ruled
against PDP’s impunity in 2007 and ordered that Rotimi Amaechi be installed
as Governor of Rivers instead of Celestine Omehia who was illegally imposed.
Secondly, the Supreme Court had also ruled against PDP in the case of Ifeanyi
Ararume when the party took his mandate as validly elected
Governorship candidate
and handed it over to another aspirant.
”It is instructive to note that these judgments took place while the
PDP was in control
of the Presidency. The opposition parties then never questioned the
integrity of the
judiciary by making wild and weighty allegations as the PDP is doing
now,” it said.
The APC also said that the PDP should blame itself for its gross
impunity with regards
to the conduct of primary elections for Taraba State. For instance, if
all political parties,
including the APC which was then in opposition, could hold their
primaries in the state,
why would the PDP that was in control of the State Government come
down to Abuja for
its primaries against the provisions of the Electoral Act and the PDP
constitution?
”The impunity was not only in the case of Taraba State because the
PDP also moved its
Governorship primaries for Borno and Adamawa States to Abuja in breach
of the Electoral Act.
The irony was that whereas the PDP claimed the primaries where shifted
to Abuja because
the capitals of Taraba, Borno and Adamawa States where not safe for
primary elections, the
PDP held Presidential campaigns in the same capitals of the affected
states (Jalingo, Taraba State,
Maiduguri, Borno State and Yola, Adamawa State).
”Now that the PDP’s chicken has come home to roost, the party must be
courageous enough to
accept full responsibility and stop seeing enemies everywhere. The PDP
is its own enemy,” the party
said.
