The conduct of last Saturday’s off-season elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states has shown that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completely derailed from its role as an umpire, the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Iliya Damagum, has alleged.
In the national leadership of the party’s first official reaction to the outcome of the elections, he said at a press conference at the national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday that if the electoral body carries on the way it has, very soon there will be no more off-season elections but simply the writing of results.
He maintained that the elections, which saw the party and the All Progressives Congress (APC) maintain the status quo in the three states, were worse than the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
The party boss said that even though people have lost confidence in the judiciary, those who feel aggrieved over the exercise should pursue redress through lawful means.
Damagum said: “We want to state in clear terms that the election held on Saturday has further confirmed the fears that have been laid on the umpire. We have seen all sorts of violence, intimidation, and highhandedness. This has further confirmed that the electoral body has completely derailed from the role it was supposed to play.
“People have lost confidence. Voters were completely disenfranchised due to the complicity of some of the agencies that were to help have a very fair election, but they completely compromised. This election is worse than even the one we had earlier.
“I want to use this medium to tell Nigerians that this is not what we bargained for and also express our fear that if we go on in this kind of manner, I am afraid that some other elections that will be off-season, which is coming up very soon, maybe there will be no election in this country. It will be a written result.
“I ask all Nigerians to pray for this country because I don’t know if this is a curse that has happened to us in this country or if this is our way. We should pray that if this is what we are, then God should intervene.
However, those who have been cheated in this election should pursue their grievance through lawful means, even though we have doubts that even the lawful means are a sad story. In a country where justice is not dispensed, anarchy is imminent.”
Damagum also appealed to party members to be cautious in their utterances as the opposition tries to maintain unity within its ranks.
He admonished: “As you can see, we’ve been doing everything possible to make sure that this party remains indivisible, and we will continue to do that. I want to urge our members to be very cautious, especially in the way and manner in which they state things. They should always state facts because it is only the facts that last.
’I want to assure them that we will continue to do justice to all. We are ready to take all the blame because, after every election, there will be blame, but all members should reflect on the roles they played during campaigns, during elections, and after.
“We should have a self-reflection so that, at the end of the day, we shall know whether we are doing the right thing because we all need this party. Our duty here is to make sure that this party remains indivisible.”
The party’s acting national chairman also addressed the issue of its defeated candidate in the Imo State gubernatorial election, Sam Anyanwu, who returned to the secretariat on Tuesday with the hope of resuming his duties as the national secretary of the party.
Anyanwu, who failed to resign as the party national secretary upon emerging as its candidate in the Imo election, was dragged before the courts to vacate the seat, but two conflicting judgements were issued on the matter.
Clearing the air, Damagum affirmed that the deputy national secretary of the party will continue to act in place of the substantive national secretary.
He explained: “Since there are conflicting court orders, we urged the two sides to stand down, and we have agreed and appointed the deputy national secretary to continue to act as secretary.
Pending the time, we will resolve all the issues—the conflicting court orders and resolutions of the south-east. So there is no conflict, and we are together and thinking together on this issue.”
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