APC To Challenge Ekiti Poll In Court

The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has disclosed that it would challenge the use of military in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State. At the poll, candidate of the APC, who is also the incumbent governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, was ousted from office by the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Ayo Fayose.

At its first National Executive Committee meeting held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, the opposition party observed that the election was badly skewed in favour of the PDP with the use of the Nigerian Army.

The APC said it would seek to challenge this in court in order not to have a repeat of it in the August 9 gubernatorial poll in Osun State and next year’s general elections.

Reading the communique after the meeting, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, noted that, “at a press conference addressed by our chairman on June 20th, we warned that our democracy was in clear and present danger from anti-democratic forces who are bent on winning elections at all cost.

“Today, we restate that warning and call for a reversal of the incidents that made sure a level playing ground was not provided for all the candidates at the just concluded election in Ekiti.

“While voting on Election Day may not have been characterized by the usual brigandage and violence, we submit that the entire process was everything but free and fair. If an integral part of the process was badly tainted as we have clearly and fully demonstrated above, then, the entire process cannot but be tainted. Voting in Ekiti may have been free of the usual violence or manipulation at the collation centres, but the entire electoral process in the state was neither free, fair nor credible.

“Therefore, in order to prevent a recurrence of what happened in Ekiti, especially the militarization of the process, the harassment and intimidation of citizens, especially those in opposition, my party has decided to challenge in court some of these constitutional breaches and will also encourage our leaders and supporters, who were arrested, harassed and intimidated, to seek the enforcement of their constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights that were recklessly abridged by the security agencies.

“Our decision to act is not only to ensure that these irresponsible and unconstitutional acts are not repeated in subsequent elections, especially that in Osun in August and next year’s general elections, but also because we have always said that evil thrives when good men do nothing.”

The party also hailed Fayemi for its sportsmanship by accepting defeat. The APC said election is never a do or die affair.