The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has decried the voting pattern of the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, following their rejection of the clause on electronic transmission of election results, and has vowed to challenge the decision in court.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s secretariat, Abuja, national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus wondered how representatives of the people in parliament could turn their backs on the people in such a blatant manner by voting against their interest.
He said: “The PDP will take all necessary legal steps to ensure that this All Progressives Congress, APC, scam is not allowed to stand in any way. We call on all lovers of democracy who see free, fair, and transparent elections as vital, to stand up against this fraud.
“How a representative of the people enjoying their mandate blatantly turned their back on them and toed the line of a political party’s interest that is clearly against the people.
“By the choice of the All Progressives Congress, APC to put party interest before the national interest, they have vividly murdered democracy by the actions of their members in the two chambers of the National Assembly Thursday and today. For us in PDP, today is a Black Friday for democracy.”
It’s an established fact in all democracies worldwide that a free, fair, and credible election is the tripod of any democracy. The action of APC in swaying their members against Electronic transmission of Election Results clearly undermines and shows in unmistaken terms that APC is not ready to face the Nigerian electorates.
According to Secondus, the rejection of the clause which would have guarantee electronic transmission of results shows that “the dilly-dallying of APC all the while in amending the Electoral Act is deliberate as they never wanted from inception to do anything that will deepen democracy in our country.”
