The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate, Prof. Olusola Kolapo, was defeated by the All Progressives Congress candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, not to rejoice over the victory of its candidate in the governorship election held in Ekiti State on Saturday yet.
The PDP said the APC and the Presidency should not mistake the alleged rigging in the election as acceptance by Nigerians.
The party declared that it was shameful for President Muhammadu Buhari, who it said claimed to be an anti-corruption champion, to glee over what it described as act of electoral corruption that it warned was capable of truncating the nation’s democratic process.
The PDP said it found it strange that the President could not condemn the alleged emasculation and subversion of the will of Ekiti people and the alleged stealing of another party’s victory by what it called brute force.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, also said that the PDP noted the alleged unsavoury statements by the Presidency, celebrating the alleged subjugation of Ekiti people as a stamp for President Buhari.
He said, “If, for President Buhari and the APC, the subjugation of the people, as witnessed in Ekiti, amounts to an election, then the nation is headed to a serious crisis, as such will be resisted with all legitimate forces available within our laws in the defence of our nation’s democracy.
“The APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission must note that what happened in Ekiti, as a single state, cannot be pulled through in a general election, especially where the people have made up their minds to seek a new president.
“Nigeria is too big and too complex to be subjugated by a single individual or group of individuals, as any attempt to do so will definitely consume the conspirators.
“Moreover, while we are still pursuing the recovery of our stolen mandate in Ekiti, we state in very strong terms that this will be the last time the PDP will, under any circumstance whatsoever, allow itself to be manipulated out at the polls at any level.”
He urged members and supporters of the PDP to continue to remain calm over the alleged daylight robbery that he said happened in Ekiti State, despite the alleged provocations by the APC and the Presidency.
He said that leaders of the party were already making efforts to redress the injustice that he said was meted out to the party in Ekiti State.
