FCT election is a shame, says PDP

FCT election is a shame, says PDP

FCT election is a shame, says PDP

By Taiwo Adeniyi

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has described the just concluded Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area councils election as a shame saying that the federal government, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security operatives manipulated the election in favour of All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship candidate, Bitrus Tanko Kura who spoke after the candidate of (APC) was declared winner of the election early Thursday morning, said it is sad that the government that wants to fight corruption could conduct such a shameful election.

He said such an election has never occurred in the history of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Tanko said APC chieftains shared money and used security agents to snatch ballot boxes at some polling units while he said the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal had no business monitoring the elections.

“I keep wondering why the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) could abandon his job and come and monitor election at a local level like ours when he has so many problems on his table to attend to. I am yet to believe that Buhari is the president and things like this are happening,” he said.

He said money was shared to voters at various polling unit in the open in the presence of security men and nobody was arrested “because they have been given their own share. It is a shame,” he said.

The AMAC PDP chairman, Mahmud Muhammed said the SGF presence in some polling units is a total disregard for the law.

He said the voters were intimidated by federal might.

“These are people that made the law, they are the same people breaking it,” he said.

Muhammed who was also the party agent for the chairmanship election said the party will meet in due course to determine the next course of action and know if the party will challenge the result.

Reacting, the FCT state chapter of APC said no election in this country is without issues. The FCT APC publicity secretary, Usman Adagi told City News there could not have been a better organised election than the one held on Saturday and Wednesday.

He said INEC performed well while the security agencies were given a free hand to carry out their responsibilities. “If the federal might, INEC, security were to be used, of course there won’t have been a supplementary election. APC would have been declared on Saturday but INEC stood their ground and did what they had to do,” he said.