APC NEC meeting in FEC chamber illegal, says PDP

• Demand Malami, Buni’s Resignation

• PDP Govs Task INEC, Security Agencies On Free, Fair Poll In Edo

TRACKING____The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday berated President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly violating his oath of office by using the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Chambers and government resources to conduct the affairs of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party said Mr. President’s action of using public facilities and resources for APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, was the height of corruption and a desecration of the sanctity of the seat of power and national values.

In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP noted that “never in the history of our nation has governance been so devalued to the extent of using the hallowed chamber of the highest executive body in the country, where high-level executive decisions are taken, for an illegal, wrongly constituted and Nicodemus meeting of a political party.

“This shameful development is a further manifestation of the level of impunity, recklessness, disrespect for rules and disdain for our laws by the APC administration, whose latest action exposes a move towards instituting the art of running processes and programmes through illegality, illicitness, illegitimate and unlawful means driven by crude force and naked power.”

Ahead of the September 19 governorship election in Edo State, PDP governors also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to ensure a free and fair election.

The governors spoke through their forum, led by the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in a message to Governor Godwin Obaseki on his emergence as the flagbearer of the party in the Edo State governorship election.

The governors urged Nigerians and the civil society to be vigilant to ensure that all votes are counted and indeed count in Edo State this year. The PDP Governors stated that Obaseki’s emergence as the flagbearer of the party was a testament to his leadership skills.

They enjoined the Edo Governor to continue to deploy his management skill in uniting the PDP and Edo people in the great task of enthroning good governance and accountability in the State.

According to the PDP, “it is an indefensible double standard for President Buhari, whose administration has been hounding and prosecuting innocent Nigerians for allegedly using public resources for activities of their political parties, to use the resources and facilities of the FEC chamber for his party’s NEC meeting.”

The opposition party also took a swipe at the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami for using his position to swear in the Chairman of the APC caretaker committee.

“It is even more distressing that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, is part of this desecration of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by functioning as a notary public to a political party and using official facilities of FEC chamber to administer oath of office to a functionary of a political party, in total disregard to his oath of office, the code of conduct prohibitions under the 5th Schedule and extant public service rules.”

“This is the same Attorney General, who has been prosecuting others for alleged but unsubstantiated use of public resources for activities of their political parties,” the party stressed

The PDP further stated that, “by using government facilities and resources to promote the activities of his party, the Attorney General has become culpable of the same offence for which he has been prosecuting innocent Nigerians. Malami has therefore become ethically challenged to continue in office as the Chief Law Officer of our nation.”

The party demanded that the Attorney General immediately resign from office and surrender himself for prosecution. The PDP lamented that “it is even more disgraceful that the furtive APC NEC meeting at the FEC Chamber was convened in total violation of the APC Constitution, which prescribes 14 days notice for regular NEC meeting and 7 days notice in the case of an emergency meeting under Article 25 (b) (i) and (ii) respectively.

“Such a coup against their own party’s constitution renders the purported APC NEC meeting illegal and decisions taken therein, a complete nullity.”The opposition party equally expressed disgust at the military orders dished out by President Buhari, pointing out that “the kind of marshal orders and threats which the President was issuing at the so called NEC meeting without allowing for a debate was a sad reminder of his days at the Supreme Military Council in 1984. This raised questions on the democratic content of the charade called a NEC meeting by the APC.”