PDP reacts to INEC’s alleged secret meeting with Buhari’s aide

– The alleged secret meeting between Professor Mahmood Yakubu and Mallam Abba Kyari has been condemned by the Peoples Democratic Party

– Yakubu is the chairman of the National Electoral Commission, while Kyari is the chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari

– Both men were said to have had the secret meeting at the President Villa on Friday, October 26

The Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the alleged secret meeting between the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu and chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari.

In its reaction to the alleged secret meeting at the Presidential Villa on Friday, October 26, PDP called on the president not to allow his personal ambition to push the nation into chaos.

Legit.ng gathers that the opposition party also cautioned the INEC boss not to succumb to pressure to manipulate the electoral process for the ruling party. The party warned that manipulating the electoral process could cause serious crisis in the country.

The PDP made the caution in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, October 28, by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The party also condemned the electoral body for listing President Buhari as a presidential candidate in spite of the fact that he did not provide his educational certificate.

Ologbondiyan said: “Prof. Yakubu should note that the polity is already tensed over INEC’s listing of President Buhari for election despite his failure to present the constitutionally required academic credentials like other candidates. This development casts a dark shadow on the credibility of INEC to conduct a transparent election.

“INEC is invited to further note that Nigerians are aware that by President Buhari’s declaration, in an affidavit, that his said certificates are with the military, his nomination documentation is, therefore, constitutionally incomplete, making him ineligible to contest the 2019 Presidential elections.

“Also, by failing to write to the military authorities to release his claimed certificates, Mr President leaves Nigerians with no option than to hold that he does not have the credentials and the 1999 Constitution (as amended) did not provide that affidavits can be used as a substitute for any candidate’s credentials.

“Moreover, Mr President’s affidavit also shows that he did not submit any certificate in 2015, making his candidacy for that election improper and defective under our laws.

“Prof. Yakubu must have noted the heavy public criticisms that have been trailing his provocative declaration that Nigerians should go to court over the certificate saga.

“His statement betrays an electoral umpire who is under threats and heavy pressure to abdicate his statutory duty of enforcing constitutional requirements for elections.”

TRACK NEWS previously reported that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, held a meeting with the chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.

There were assumptions that the meeting might be related to the publication made by INEC on the profile of presidential candidates which showed that the president indicated that his WAEC certificate was with the military board.