PDP questions INEC’s independence, says commission blocked party from submitting Ekiti Gov candidate

National factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Tanimu Turaki on Tuesday questioned the independence of the current leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while accusing the commission of blocking it from submitting the name of its governorship candidate for the forthcoming Ekiti poll. 

Turaki insisted INEC has duly recognised his leadership of the party, saying attendance of the party primaries to nominate candidates for the Ekiti and Osun Governorship election was an attestation of the Commission’s recognition.

He spoke after a closed-door meeting between members of the National  Working Committee and some elders of the embattled party with former President Goodluck Jonathan at his residence on Abuja

Turaki however said the leadership was ready to welcome back all members who genuinely love and are ready to be loyal members of the party.

He said his leadership was ready to defend the party at all levels, insisting that of all the cases in court, the party was the one dragged to Court by members.

According to him: “I have said this several times. We do not have problem with the recognition with INEC. We sent notice of primaries to elect a gubernatorial flag bearer in Ekiti State to INEC;  INEC followed, INEC attended, INEC monitored, INEC wrote a report. INEC also gave us the password to access their portal to upload the data of our candidate and his running mate. We duly accessed and then were able to download the forms for our candidate.

“We gave it to him, he printed and we now submitted. Somewhere along the line, and I hate to say this, but I must say it, somewhere along the line, INEC now blocked us from accessing the platform again to upload that data. But we had done manual submission to INEC. Which INEC has collected.

“Now outside the Ekiti, we also sent correspondence to INEC about our primaries in Osun State. INEC sent their team, they attended, they monitored our primaries, and they wrote a report. And the candidate emerged. So as far as events that political parties carry out that demand statutory notice are concerned, the obligation place on the shoulders of any political party is to give those statutory notices, which we did.

“Now INEC as a regulator has the discretion to attend or refuse to attend. We issued notices, and INEC honoured those notices, attended, monitored and wrote a report. 

“So as far as I am concerned, INEC has indeed recognised its leadership. And we continue to maintain that INEC has recognised our leadership.  But we do understand that there are certain events that are beginning to raise doubt in our minds and in the minds of other people, whether this present INEC leadership is indeed independent?”

Speaking on the visit to the former President, Turaki said: “We came this evening to visit one of our very important leader, former President Ebele Jonathan, first to introduce members of the newly elected National Working Committee to him, and then to tell him what we’ve been doing since our election at the National Convention that was held last November in Ibadan.

“We’ve briefed him on the state of the party, the challenges, the prospects. On this visit, we are accompanied by former governors, members of the Board of Trustees, founding fathers and founding mothers, Forum of State Chairmen, in addition to other leaders of the party that also includes former ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We have solicited, as usual, for his support, for his guidance, for his advice, as always and we have his assurance that he’s still a card-carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party, he’s still active, and will even be more active these days in the activities and affairs of the People’s Democratic Party.

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“He has assured us that PDP has done everything for him that can be done to an individual, and that he still feels that he remains obligated to PDP.

“His remarks and statements are not only reassuring, but indeed they are very, very encouraging as we begin to prepare for the off-season elections in Ekiti and Osun this year and  the general election in 2027.

“I want to assure members of the public, and indeed PDP family members out there, that PDP still remains the most veritable platform for standing and winning elections in Nigeria.

“We still remain the leading opposition party in this country, and this new leadership is taking  this party back to the people, who are the owners and in doing  so, there’s going to be a level playing ground that will be inclusive. There will no longer be impunity and we are not going to allow people to take what does not belong to them. 

“We will listen to Nigerians. Whatever Nigerians want is what we give to them. Whatever Nigerians want is what they will have as far as this leadership is concerned.  This is the party that belongs to the Nigerian people and that is why we are called the people’s Democratic Party”.

Responding to questions on whether the former President was sorry about the crisis in the party, Turaki said: “I did say that we informed him about the prospects and challenges and part of the challenges are the legal battles that we are facing and as a senior lawyer, I have been able also to explain to him the nitty-gritty of the matters and what we are doing at the Court of Appeal and he still believes just like all of us do, that PDP is the party for Nigerians.

On the suggestions of Jonathan on how to resolve the crisis in the party, he said: “You see, even when you win the war, you also need to win the battle. I am one of the advocates who believe that it is not every political disagreement that you take to court.

“But you must also understand from where we are coming from that in all the matters that have been taken to court, we were the ones that were sued as a party. We didn’t take any matter to court. So, we have an obligation to this party and indeed the generality of our members to go and defend those matters.

“But we believe that even after these matters are resolved one way or another by the courts, that we’ll still come back,  those that are still useful to this party, those that have shown concern, those that have shown remarkable remorse and are willing to continue to be loyal party men and women, we’ll carry them along.”