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Stakeholders urge electoral body not to truncate democracy

By Editor
08 November 2016   |   1:51 am
A pro-democracy group, the Coalition for Stable Democracy (CSD), yesterday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to avoid taking decisions that could truncate democracy
Mr. Eyitayo Jegede

Mr. Eyitayo Jegede

A pro-democracy group, the Coalition for Stable Democracy (CSD), yesterday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to avoid taking decisions that could truncate democracy

A statement by its National Secretary, Abdullahi Sanni, said the commission couldn’t extricate itself from the current tensed political atmosphere it had created in the state.

Sanni said: “Actions as these are capable of derailing democracy and eroding the hard-earned gains that have been recorded by successive administrations.”

The group condemned INEC for subverting the will of the people in the duly conducted primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which it observed and adjudged to be fair.

The CSD urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take keen interest in the commission’s activities, including the controversies surrounding the elections it had conducted since May 29, 2015.

He described the actions as calculated at weakening the opposition parties in the country. The group said it was necessary for the presidency to intervene, so that the controversial governorship elections in Bayelsa, Rivers, Kogi and Edo could not be blamed on it.

Sanni said: “In the current crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo, the INEC had argued that it abandoned the result of the well-conducted primaries in which Mr. Eyitayo Jegede emerged winner, to publish the Jimoh Ibrahim as a candidate, citing Justice Okon Abang’s court ruling.

“For the avoidance of doubt, INEC’s legal team was unequivocal in its opinion that there was no justifiable reason in removing Jegede’s name.”

According to him, Jegede was not a party in the case in which Justice Abang ruled neither was there a contention in the party’s primaries that produced him.

He urged the commission to tow the line of honour in accordance with the mood of the people who have vowed to resist the replacement.The statement reads: “In a recent case in Abia, the commission followed the same pattern of betrayal. We recall that the ruling by Justice Abang forced the INEC to hurriedly issue a certificate of return to another candidate. There were however, allegations that the certificate had been prepared in anticipation of the court ruling.”

The group warned against a repeat of the illegality that took place in 1983, which led to violence in the state, especially now that the matter has ignited protests from across the state.

He added that it is critical for the presidency to take a stand to denounce the allegation that top officials of the commission had been summoned by the presidency before Jegede’s replacement.

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