The national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday stormed the national headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and demanded that illegal replacement of results, which he alleged had characterized previous elections, be halted.
The PDP leaders, which were led by the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus in a peaceful protect to submit their petition at INEC headquarters, demanded for free and fair elections in Edo and Ondo states and regretted that the illegal practice of replacing results, had dragged Nigeria from its leadership level in Africa to a shameful position, to the extent that Ghana had now took the lead in the conduct of free and fair election.
Secondus, who informed the INEC leadership that PDP had it on good authority that over 1500 members of Department of State Services (DSS) have been deployed to Edo state, expressed fear that alleged replacement of results will happen again.
The PDP leadership specifically drew attention to instances to states like Osun, kano, Kogi, Bayelsa where those practices had occurred in the past.
“We make this request in view of the party’s ugly experiences in Osun, Kogi, Kano and Beyelsa states, to mention those few, which showed that promises alone had not delivered free and fair elections,” he said.
The PDP also lamented that assurances that were given in the past by the commission ended up as mere political talk.
The party said that this time around, INEC should go beyond promises and defend its integrity by ensuring free and fair elections in Edo and Ondo state, adding that anything on the contrary would spell doom for democracy in the country.
“The importance of an electoral umpire cannot be overemphasized in ensuring the sanctity of elections and offering the people hope that our democracy was heading in the right direction,” he said.
Expressing concern, Secondus said: “We are deeply worried and in pain because of our past experiences especially those of Kogi and Bayelsa. We are worried because the country is in crises, crises in economy, crises in the area of security, virtually in all facets of the life of the nation and the only way out of all these crises is to conduct free and fair elections which will at most reduce the tension in our country today.
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