Democracy: Nigerians Should Be Grateful To PDP – Govs

Democracy: Nigerians Should Be Grateful To PDP – Govs

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum yesterday said that Nigerians should be grateful to the party for ensuring the sustenance of democracy after several failed attempts in the past.

The Forum, which spoke through its chairman and governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, insisted that Nigeria is enjoying its longest span of democracy (16 years) because of the party’s commitment to free, fair and credible elections.

Akpabio spoke in Lagos yesterday at an interactive session with the media and civil society organisations, with the theme ‘Sustenance of Democratic Values and National Development’, organised by the Forum.

Governors at the forum were Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Aliyu Babangida (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Bala Ngilari (Adamawa), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo).

Others were Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Jonah Jang (Plateau) Mukhtar Yero (Kaduna) and Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe).

Akpabio, who said the governors decided to hold the session in Lagos because the state is the headquarters of the media and activism, also said they were in the state to tackle the propaganda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and to showcase their achievements.

He said, “The continued quest of the PDP-led federal government for free, fair and credible elections is witnessed in Jonathan’s robust support through adequate and sustained funding and indeed the free hand given to INEC to operate”.

He, however, stated that in spite of the efforts and commitment of President Goodluck Jonathan to ensuring credible elections the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) seems ill-prepared for the 2015 general elections.

Akpabio said, “For example, at the time the polls were shifted due to security concerns, over 23 million registered voters had yet to collect their permanent voter cards (PVCs) and you know there are

some countries with populations of about just three million.

“Twenty-three million would amount to disenfranchising more than five West African countries in their own elections.

“It would be recalled that even the INEC chairman admitted on the floor of the Senate that over one million PVCs had yet to be printed in faraway China.”

The governor also said the postponement of the elections were justifiable and was a blessing in disguise saying if INEC had gone head to conduct the elections it would have led to serious crisis.

Although he maintained that the governors did object to the use of Temporary Voter Cards, he stated that people who do not have PVCs should be allowed to vote.

He said, “How then can Nigerians reconcile the purported readiness of INEC for the February 14 election with the testing of card readers more than a month after the postponement?

“More than three weeks after the elections have been shifted they are then testing the card readers that would have been used. Given the failure rate of the card readers during the recent mock exercise, it is apparent that many Nigerians will be disenfranchised even when they are registered to vote.