DEPUTY Director-General, President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Professor Tunde Adeniran, has exonerated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from pressurising the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to shift election dates, as being speculated in some quarters.
Prof. Adeniran told The Guardian yesterday that it was very glaring that INEC was far from being ready to conduct a credible election, in which every registered voter would be allowed to vote a candidate of choice.
“We knew that INEC was far from ready in view of over 34 per cent of the electorate that had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and other logistical and operational inadequacies that ought to have been addressed before now,” he said.
He, however, noted that although PDP, as a party, welcomed the postponement, there was no doubt that “it has posed a new challenge on the party.”
His words: “We welcome the decision because INEC took the decision after wide consultations with stakeholders and critically examining their own state of preparedness.
“The alteration of the timetable is well within the mandate of INEC, guaranteed by their enabling laws.
“INEC gave reasons of insecurity and the fact that security agencies had notified them in writing of their need for time to guarantee security during this most crucial stage of Nigeria’s democratic process.
“The Peoples Democratic Party, as well as the Presidential Campaign Organisation (PCO) are law-abiding and will always react to developments within the framework of the Rule of Law.
“We have submitted ourselves to the new parameters, while studying both immediate and long-term implications of the postponement, and hoping that INEC will use the extension to put its house in order and conduct transparently free, fair and credible elections.”
In the mean time, he said the campaign group and the PDP in general would use the opportunity to further market their presidential candidate.
“In the interim, our dear party will continue to remind the electorate and citizens of our great country of the vast achievements of our party and its candidate, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, towards the welfare and development of Nigeria, and the need to vote him back into office,” he said.
“We remain determined and will focus on engaging the Nigerian people on the president’s record and manifesto, to ensure we arrive at the Promised Land premised on consolidating his Transformation Agenda.”
Last Saturday, before the postponement of the election, Prof. Adeniran had expressed his party’s readiness for the polls.
He stated: “PDP is ready to meet APC and every other party at the polls any time, any day.
The only concern of PDP is that over 30 per cent of Nigerian registered voters are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards.
“So, PDP has no reason to be jittery at all. PDP is a very solid. We are not a desperate party; we stand for the people; we work for the people and we want the people of Nigeria to be properly served.”
