Uche Secondus, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Thursday, November 21, 2019, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to cancel the November 16 governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.
He also called on the United Kingdom, United States and other members of the international community to ban perpetrators of electoral violence in the two states from their countries.
He spoke during a media briefing in Abuja.
Secondus said the results of the elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States should be cancelled because they are products of bloodshed and do not reflect the true wishes and aspirations of the people of the states.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, the APC national chairman said: “The leadership of our great party has thoroughly reviewed incontrovertible pieces of the documentary of evidence including video clips, graphic pictures, witness testimonies, manipulated results sheets, proofs of compromising of INEC officials and other hard facts to establish the culpability of the Police and INEC in the electoral fraud as well as the unforgivable culpable homicide and crime against humanity in the elections.
“We have the details of the roles played by the Police high command and the INEC as well as other security and INEC officials in this election. Those details will be made public at the appropriate forum and time’’.
“It is instructive to call the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the fact that since the election, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC Federal Government has failed to take any concrete steps to investigate the issues and bring culprits to book.
‘‘The Police and INEC had also failed to take any decisive action to arrest and investigate their officers accused of involvement in various crimes in the elections’’.
“We have also noted frantic efforts by the police hierarchy to explain away the crimes and sweep the killings under the carpet.
“These only validate apprehension that the invasion of polling unit, killings and alteration of results were part of the premeditated power-grabbing designs of the APC.
“We state without equivocation that invasion of polling units and killing of voters to manipulate electoral results cannot be allowed in our democratic space. If the APC’s political brigandage that happened in Kogi and Bayelsa State is allowed to stand, such would be extended to other elections including the 2023 general elections and that would be a death knell to our democracy.
“It is, therefore, a sacred duty we all owe our nation to pursue redress for this crime within the ambit of our national and international laws.
“In this regard, the PDP calls for the outright cancellation of the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States as they are products of bloodshed and do not reflect the true wishes and aspirations of the people of the states.
“We also demand the immediate cancellation of the Kogi West Senatorial election. This is the biggest fraud of the century.
“The PDP, standing with millions of Nigerians also holds that the INEC and the Police high command must be made answer charges of electoral fraud and crime against humanity at the appropriate quarters.
“We call on the international community as well as international organizations including the United Nations, UN, the European Union, EU, Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, AU) ECOWAS to immediately impose sanctions, including travel bans, on the INEC and the Police high commands for abusing their offices and allegedly aiding or allowing acts that led to electoral fraud and violence in the elections.
“The primary duty of INEC and the Police is to ensure free, fair and credible election. This they observed in the breach as even reported by agents, voters, stakeholders and independent observers in the elections. They must, therefore, be made to face the consequences to serve as
deterrent to others.
“The leadership of the PDP once more commends the people of Kogi and Bayelsa States for their resilience and resistance against oppressive forces during the election. Such patriotism will never be in vain.
“Our leadership also condoles with the families of compatriots who were murdered by the APC. Indeed, their death can never be in vain as the mandate for which they were killed will be surely retrieved.
“Moreover, somebody someday will bear the full sentence of guilt at the appropriate quarters, be it within the ambit of our domestic laws or those of the international laws.”
