13th April, 2014
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck
Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of engaging in crass lawlessness by their
serial violation of the country’s electoral law, under the guise of
liberation, family or unity rallies across the country.
In a statement issued in London on 13 April by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC’s interim National Publicity Secretary, said the President
has exhibited a gross abuse of executive power by leading his party to
prematurely kick-start the campaign for the 2015 elections, in
violation of the law.
It said if the action is anything to go by, the 2015 general elections
will be everything but free, fair and credible, and called on the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assert its
independence, if it has any, by sanctioning the lawbreakers since no
one is above the law.
APC warned that if INEC fails to act, it loses any moral authority to
stop other parties from doing the same.
“Hiding under nomenclature, this President has led his party to
engage in brazen lawlessness and shameless impunity. They have gained
an undue advantage over other parties, or beaten the gun, in athletics
parlance. Therefore, they should suffer the consequences of their
action, the least of which is a strong public rebuke, to be followed
by stipulated sanctions if they persist,” the statement read.
“If nothing is done to check this lawlessness, Nigerians should brace
up for more in the days ahead. What example is the President laying by
violating the law? What signal is he sending to Nigerians about the
need to respect the laws of the land? When a President brazenly
violates the electoral law under the guise of some rally, has he not
started election rigging? Has he not already started compromising the
electoral umpires and the security agencies?”
“We know the President’s conniving handlers and advisers do not
appreciate that a higher standard of conduct is expected of the
President of Nigeria, through his statements, actions and body
language. Unfortunately, everything points to the fact that the
President, by his serial violation, is telling Nigerians and the whole
world loud and clear that the coming elections will neither be free
fair nor credible!” APC said.
The party statement explained that when President Jonathan boasted in Enugu on 11 April, at the Unity Rally, to capture the South-east in 2015, he was engaging in electioneering, rather than reunification, campaign.
APC advised President Jonathan to concentrate his energy on putting
Nigerians back to work, ensuring the security of lives and property
and stopping the massive looting of the common wealth under his watch.
“A President who cannot even commiserate with the families of
innocent school children who were violently hacked down under his
watch has no qualms about skirting around the scene of the dastardly
act in the name of electioneering campaign. Yet he has the temerity to
point accusing fingers at others. What a cruel irony!” the party pointed out.