13th March, 2013
The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria has said that the present INEC leadership is corrupt, partisan and hugely compromised to organise the 2015 general elections, in view of the dirty intrigues the party had adopted to further the interests of the PDP ahead the coming elections.
The party therefore calls for the implementation of the Justice Muhammed Uwais Electoral Reform Panel recommendations, especially as it pertains to the NJC constitution of an independent and impartial INEC leadership to organise credible elections in Nigeria.
In a release signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party said the present dirty pranks of the INEC leadership in cahoots with the PDP is not surprising to Nigerians who are aware of the complicit role Attahiru Jega and his INEC leadership had been playing to further the interest of the PDP.
It says that expecting such a highly compromised and corrupt leadership to organise a free and fair election where every political party will have equal rights is a mirage, considering the present scandal INEC and PDP are levying on the political scene.
“We are shocked that the Jega-led INEC should indulge in such brazen, dirty and inordinate tricks as stealing in a fraudulent registration for a shadowy political party for the purpose of denying the All Progressives Congress, APC, its just registration. We are peeved that such callous act is being perpetrated by the INEC leadership in connivance with the PDP for the sole purpose of furthering the selfish, narrow and pristine interests of the PDP. This is enough to send early warning signals that the Jega INEC is bent on once again manipulating the coming elections to the favour of the PDP without regard to the feelings of the generality of long suffering Nigerians.
“So intriguing is the refusal of the compromised INEC to name those behind its phantom APC, which leads Nigerians to wonder when party formation, registration and actualization became secret business of non existing characters. In an era when political parties are being de-registered by the same INEC, we wonder how it came to the conclusion to register phantom parties whose membership and agenda is known only to the conniving plotters in PDP and INEC.”
The party further stated: “Recently, we recall that General Muhammadu Buhari, the Leader of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) alleged that the PDP is in a merger with INEC and the security agencies for the purpose of stealing every election in Nigeria. That the INEC leadership should in so short a time after that damning allegation, lend itself to the promotion of the dirty, noxious and wily intrigue of the PDP to evade the looming electoral defeat, shows that 2015 would be a mirage with such leadership at the helm of the electoral body.
“Lagos ACN therefore calls on Jega and his INEC leadership to resign or get sacked for falling so short of the impartial expectation of an INEC leadership. We urge Nigerians to step up the pressure to free INEC of the corrupt, compromised and rotten leadership of Jega and the present INEC leadership.”