APC, PDP, Alao Akala, others disagree

THE Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the decision of the Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2015 general elections as an affront to Nigerians and a serious threat to democracy, which Nigerians must rise up to protest.

  But the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, said the postponement fell in line with the 1999 Constitution, although it meant more expenses and more stress for competitors.

  In a statement yesterday, the Lagos Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe

Igbokwe, said the laughable excuse that a four-yearly general election is being postponed a week to the exercise on the pretext that the Army is embarking on a six weeks exercise against insurgents, is a cheap insult, an annoying blackmail on the sensibilities of Nigerians by a party and government that is desperate to remain in power when it is obvious that Nigerians don’t want it any longer.

  In another development, the Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has urged his teeming supporters not to be discouraged, saying that he was confident of victory.

  The former governor who spoke through its Director of Public Affairs, Oludare Ogunlana, said “he was more prepared to wipe tears from the faces of the already pauperised people of Oyo State.”

  He called on members of LP to be steadfast and committed, not minding the postponement despite the shift in polls dates.

  Meanwhile, the APC in Oyo State has described the pressure on INEC, which culminated in the postponement of the 2015 general elections by six weeks as a failed coup against democracy in Nigeria. 

  The APC in a statement by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, expressed regrets that the PDP cabal could go to the extent of coercing some federal agencies expected to be impartial on election matters into the ploy to frustrate the smooth conduct of the general elections even to the chagrin of the global community.