Members of the opposition All Progressives Congress in the Senate on Tuesday, raised the alarm of a fresh plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to postpone the forthcoming general elections slated for March 28 and April 11.
The senators, who walked out of the plenary to address the National Assembly correspondents in the Senate, alleged that the Presidency, in collaboration with the ruling PDP, were planning to arm-twist the electoral umpire to canvass a shift of using the card reader as an excuse.
Their reaction followed the submission of Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, while moving a motion for the summon of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru jega, over the planned use of the card reader for the election.
Ndoma-Egba, had argued that the use of card readers would contravene Section 52 of the Electoral Act which prohibits the use of electronic device during election.
But the senators, led by their leader, Senator George Akume, insisted at the news conference that anything short of conducting the elections as scheduled, and using the card reader to avoid rigging, might lead to a civil war.
They argued that since the card reader was meant for the accreditation of the voters, its usage would not constitute a breach of the Electoral Act as postulated by the Senate Leader.
The opposition senators alleged that the PDP leadership, having failed to use the security challenges and poor collection of Permanent Voter Cards as excuses to postpone the polls again, had started a fresh plot by hiding under the card reader’s usage.
Akume said, “Elections must be held as rescheduled, it is important that the Independent National Electoral Commission must do this in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.CONTINUE READING
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