PDP condemns alleged arm twisting of its govs to join APC

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the federal government to bring the activities of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists in the country to an end, through increased use of military equipment, traditional means of conflict resolution and technology for surveillance.
The PDP pointedly declared that doing such will require the development of the political will to flush them out.
The governors made the call in a communique issued at the end of their meeting yesterday in Bauchi.
In the communique signed by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and twelve others, the meeting condemned what it called “the use of underhand tactics to arm twist some PDP Governors and other stakeholders” to join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The PDP Governors expressed their displeasure with President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC “for turning the Presidential Villa, that belongs to all Nigerians, into the new APC headquarters”, where coerced PDP members are being paraded at intervals.
The meeting requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the only body empowered by the Constitution to conduct elections, to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure that the votes of every Nigerian is counted and made to count.
The meeting further called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone Companies (Telcos) and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that universal access and service of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are provided especially in rural, un-served and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 General elections.
The communique reads, “The meeting deliberated once again on the state of the nation, reviewed the deteriorating state of our democracy, the economic and security situation in the country, the state of the PDP as the main opposition platform in Nigeria, and arrived at the following decisions.
“On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Governors identified with the need for a free, fair and credible elections in the country and called on the National Assembly to entrench Electronic transmission of results of elections in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.
“The meeting requested Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the only body empowered by the Constitution to conduct elections, to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure that the votes of every Nigerian is counted and made to count.
“The meeting further called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone Companies (Telcos) and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that universal access and service of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are provided especially in rural, un-served and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 General elections.
“The meeting condemned the attempt to foist on all political parties, one method of conducting primaries, that is, by DIRECT METHOD ONLY, through the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
“The Governors noted that the method is prone to massive rigging, as evidenced by a situation where President Buhari scored about 15 million votes in the 2018 APC Direct Primaries only to score 15 million votes from the entire country in the 2019 General Election.
“The Governors advised that political parties, should be allowed to decide whether to use direct or indirect method of conducting primaries as part of internal democracy in political parties.
“The Governors reiterated, once again, the need for the NNPC and other revenue generating agencies of Government to strictly abide by the Constitution by remitting all their Revenue less cost of Production into the Federation Account as provided for by S.162 of the Constitution.
“The meeting condemned, once again, the use of underhand tactics to arm twist some PDP Governors and other stakeholders to join the APC, a political party that has wrecked Nigeria’s economy, turned Nigeria into a killing field and has nothing to offer Nigerians but misery and bad governance.
“The Governors condemned Mr President and APC for turning the Presidential Villa, that belongs to all Nigerians, into the new APC headquarters, where coerced PDP members are being paraded at intervals.
“On the economy, the meeting admonished the APC Federal Government to collaborate more with State Governments to stem the unemployment scourge affecting the youths of Nigeria, through technology and increased production in all fields of endeavour, reiterating that Government should stop paying lip service on the Ease of Doing Business, as foreign direct investments have continued to fall partly due to obstacles placed on foreign companies wishing to invest in Nigeria.