PDP say "We are ready for CPC"
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Tuesday, 10 May 2011 05:24
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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday dismissed the court action instituted by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenging the electoral victory of its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, saying it is not afraid of the suit.
The CPC, had earlier, filed a petition at the Court of Appeal challenging the victory of Mr Jonathan in the April 16 presidential election. The party asked the court to nullify elections in about 24 states.
The PDP spokesman, who expressed surprise that the CPC flag bearer, Muhammadu Buhari changed his mind after pledging not to go to court to challenge the outcome of the presidential polls, said the party is not bothered about the court action. While acknowledging that Mr Buhari had the right to contest the result of the elections, Mr Alkali, said that Nigerians had thought that after the polls the system would be allowed to stabilize, and those who lost would accept defeat to enable the winners settle down to work.
“In some states we lost the governorship, senatorial and house of representatives election and we have come out to accept defeat and therefore others sould have shown magnanimity,” he said.
Constitutional rights
“It is the right of anybody whose loses election. If you stop him, what will be the basis for that?” Alkali said. “The only unfortunate thing is that the CPC candidate promised initially that he won’t go to court. We don’t know why he changed his mind. The party will prepare to meet him in court. PDP has no reason to be afraid. Everybody is commending the elections and the chairman of INEC for conducting transparent polls.”
Mr Alkali said the PDP was excited over its victory in most of the states as well as its winning majority of the seats in the National Assembly.
He praised Mr Jonathan for ensuring transparent elections were held in the country. Mr Alkali stressed that for the first time the country had elections that were judged as transparent and open by both domestic and international observers.
The PDP spokesman, who lamented the party’s loss of five states – Zamfara, Oyo, Imo, Ogun and Nasarawa – in the governorship election, said, “This is a sacrifice that is high for the party. We won some seats in the National Assembly though. For us, it was a huge loss. We also gained Kano.”
“We as a party have demonstrated a lot of maturity because we did not instigate violence rather we became victims,” Mr Alkali said. “You will recall the action of our opponents after the presidential election. We commiserate with the family of those who lost their lives and property.”
Biometrics to the rescue
Meanwhile, the CPC yesterday claimed that transiting from a government to another via the ballot box has always been problematic in the country.
Abubakar Malami, its national legal adviser added that, “With every election, including the last presidential election, the electorates continue to lose confidence in the ability of the ballot box to express their will. This is a dangerous trend that must not be allowed to continue, lest we find our country sleepwalking into a disaster that we may not come out of.”
Mr Malami spoke yesterday in Abuja at a briefing on the party’s petition which was filed at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
He added that based on lessons learned from past election tribunal cases, the party will use scientific means to prove its case at the tribunal. “This case will therefore depend mainly on the authentication and verification of the fingerprints on the disputed ballot papers cast.”
“To the CPC, this use of the Forensic/Biometric system based on INEC’s capturing of all the 10 fingers of every voter is a novel idea that can help solve forever the challenges of multiple voting and outright concoction of results; two critical issues in our electoral malpractices,” Mr Malami said. “Our present case in the tribunal is thus aimed at establishing the truth and preventing future elections malpractices in our country’s democratic experiment”.
Mr Malami commiserated with the families of those who died and lost properties in the post election violence that erupted in some northern states after the declaration of the presidential elections results.
On the subject of the zoning of the positions of the senate president, and the speaker of the house of representatives, the PDP spokesman, Mr Alkali, refused to disclose the decision of the committee on the sharing of the offices. He however said that the party will make its decision public at the appropriate time. (234 Next)
