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| National Publicity Secretary, APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed |
Toluwani Eniola
The All Progressives Congress has said Saturday’s
judgment of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal shows
that the Peoples Democratic Party has started harvesting the fruits of its
impunity and recklessness.
The APC, therefore, asked the PDP to accept
responsibility and stop blaming President Muhammadu Buhari for its failure at
the tribunal.
The tribunal had on Saturday nullified the election
of Governor Darius Ishaku of the PDP and declared the APC’s governorship
candidate, Aisha Al-Hassan, as the winner of the April 11, 2015 election.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP’s
allegation that the Taraba tribunal judgment was a manipulation by the
Presidency was laughable.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as his party,
the APC, are strong believers in the rule of law, as against the rule of
impunity, hence will never manipulate the judiciary for whatever reason.
“The PDP is clearly aware of this, but has chosen
to blame everyone but itself for the fate that has befallen it. The PDP should
have known that it will pay for its years of impunity and recklessness. For
this party, the chicken has now come home to roost,” the APC said.
The ruling party asked the PDP to leave the
judiciary, the Presidency and the APC alone, insisting that alleged impunity of
the part of the PDP cost the former ruling party the election.
The APC said by breaching Section 78 (b) (1) (2) of
the Electoral Act concerning the organisation of party primaries, the PDP was
not considered to have participated in the April 11, 2015 governorship election
in Taraba State.
It also noted that the election of the PDP
candidate, Ishaku, in the purported primary in Abuja was done after the
stipulated time for party primaries had elapsed.
It argued that if all political parties could hold
their primaries in the state, there was no reason why the PDP that was in
control of the state government would go to Abuja for its governorship primary
against the provisions of the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution.
The statement partly read, “When the PDP was in
control of the Presidency, the opposition parties never questioned the
integrity of the judiciary by making wild and weighty allegations as the PDP is
doing now.
“The impunity was not only in the case of Taraba
State because the PDP also moved its governorship primaries for Borno and
Adamawa states to Abuja in breach of the Electoral Act. The irony was that
whereas the PDP claimed the primaries were shifted to Abuja because the
capitals of Taraba, Borno and Adamawa states were not safe for the primaries,
the PDP had presidential campaigns in the same capitals of the affected states
(Jalingo, Maiduguri and Yola).
“Now that the PDP’s chicken has come home to roost,
the party must be courageous enough to accept full responsibility and stop
seeing enemies everywhere. The PDP is its own enemy.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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