There are indications that the national
leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party might have perfected a
fresh strategy aimed at stalling the March 28 presidential election.
Investigations by our correspondent in
Abuja on Thursday and Friday showed that the ruling party was actually
the brain behind those who registered Young Democratic Party and that it
may use this new party to achieve its objective.
The new party had on Thursday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the forthcoming general elections.
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The party said this a day after the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the commission to register YDP as a political party.
At a press briefing in Abuja, the party
called on INEC to re-schedule the general elections if it could not
accommodate it on its ballot paper.
It said that contrary to insinuations,
the court did not order INEC to only register the party, but added that
the commission was ordered to issue certificate and include YDP in the
2015 elections.
National Publicity Secretary of YDP, Mr.
Ugo Nwofor, said there were only two options available to INEC, saying
the commission could either reprint its ballot papers and include the
party with a view to accommodate the party’s candidates or shift the
elections.
Nwafor said, “If INEC does not have the
appropriation for logistics for reprinting of its ballot papers then
INEC ought to within the constitutional provision further re-schedule
the general election so as to accommodate our party.
“In either of the two options, our party
is ready, it has been a long journey for YDP; we wish INEC would
explore the first option.”
Shortly after the press briefing, one of
the brains behind the YDP was seen at the national headquarters of the
PDP in Abuja on Thursday evening, where he said he had come to confer
with some of its officers.
In a confidential discussion with our
correspondent, he said he had come to brief the party on the success of
their legal work which made the court to order that the new party be
registered.
When our correspondent called him on the
telephone on Friday whether they were planning a fresh legal option to
compel INEC to comply with the court order, he answered in the
affirmative.
According to him, “Recall that I was at
the national headquarters of the ruling party in Abuja on Thursday where
I met our partners. We are working together to move the nation forward
and deepen our renascent democracy.
“We have already fixed the dates for our
convention and we would pick our presidential and other candidates for
the elections. We expect INEC to give us a chance as stated in the court
order.”
However, it was learnt that one of the
strategies of the ruling party in connection with the YDP is to head for
the court and ask that the presidential election be set aside, by
pleading that the party was excluded.
“This is what we would do if President Jonathan loses the elections,” a source at the national headquarters of the party added.
But if the president wins, it was gathered that the party would not show any interest in pursuing any case in the court.
Nwofor, however, said that the party was
interested in contesting the election, adding that this was in
compliance with Sections 85 and 87 of the electoral Act.
“Because of this, the party has fixed
its governorship/House of Assembly and Presidential and National
Assembly primaries for March 26 and 27 respectively,” he added.
It was gathered that the party cleverly
picked the dates in order to make sure that the election slated for
March 28 does not hold or to make it have a legal proof for exclusion.
The party was believed to have known that submission of candidates list for elections expired 60 days to the election.
An INEC official said that the “commission and Nigerians are aware of the provision of the law on this.”
Nwafor, however, said that his party had
commenced the sales of nomination forms due to the court judgement. He
said, “We have approved sales of nomination forms as follows;
Presidential (N15m), governorship (N3m), Senate (N1m), House of
Representatives (N500,000) and House of Assembly (200,000).”
He described the Wednesday’s judgement as victory for democracy, rule of law and triumph over impunity.
It was however gathered that the
national leadership of the new party was waiting for the commission to
reach out to it tomorrow on the judgement.
One of their elders, who spoke with our
correspondent, said that “we expect the commission to reach out to us
and ask us to send the names of our presidential and other candidates.
“In the alternative, the commission can
also reach out to us, discuss with us and we may say that we are not
fielding candidates for the Presidential and National Assembly
elections, which come up first.
“The result of the discussion will
determine what we would do for the governorship and state Houses of
Assembly elections, which holds April 11.”
Efforts made to speak with the National
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh on the issue failed. He
neither picked nor responded to a text message sent to him.
ABUJA — Erstwhile Head of State,
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was last night sustaining his lead
over President Goodluck Jonathan in the declared results of the
presidential elections released by the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, last night.
President Jonathan has, however, protested results declared from
Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi States, alleging
malpractices.
LONDON, March 22, 2015 
It’s not a secret that Wizkid loves jeweleries a lot.
Sometime
last year, the media was awash with wicked tales coming from
South-Africa about Nollywood actress, Angela Okorie! It was alleged that
New Delhi:
It took a court hearing to bring together Arvind Kejriwal and Yogendra
Yadav, the two estranged leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Big win..
!['It was great to meet Mehar today and surprise him with a new wheelchair courtesy of all the players. @[7724542745:274:Manchester United]'](https://scontent-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/p296x100/11069295_796349847108779_7625756448352220775_n.jpg?oh=047230eeb40cd07bde7753125b0adffc&oe=557F4713)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the
recent call by the president’s wife, Patience Jonathan, that Nigerians
should stone those calling for change.
The Federal Government has accredited
over 300 foreign journalists to cover Nigeria’s general elections
scheduled for March 28 and April 11.
