The African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State has said that the postponement of the Saturday, February 16 Presidential and National Assembly election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)) is a sign of impending defeat of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the coming polls.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mamhood Yakubu, on Saturday in Abuja announced the postponement of the elections on account of logistics hiccups.
In an exclusive interview with The Point, the ADC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Abiola Odutola, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said everything points to the fact that the coming poll would usher in a new administration in the country.
Odutola, who said he had lost faith in INEC as an independent body based on the postponement, alleged that the Commission was carrying out the dictates of the Federal Government.
He said the desperation by the ruling party was overwhelming adding that the plan to rig the election would fail.
The ADC Publicity Secretary said, “They (APC) can see the handwriting on the wall that they are losing this election. The opposition’s preparedness for this election is a threat to the ruling party and that is the reason why the election was postponed.
“He (Buhari) was afraid and they think that the best thing is just to shift the election so that he can make plans to rig. My message for the ruling party is that they are just shifting the goal post; this is just an indication that the ruling party would be unseated come Saturday. Nigerians have lost faith in this government and in the agency.”
Odutola, who queried INEC’s reasons for the postponement of the election, said as was the case under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the elections date should have earlier been shifted after thorough deliberations with stakeholders if there was need.
Describing the postponement as ridiculous and shameful, he said, “INEC acted based on instructions. This had never happened before. In the past when elections were shifted under the immediate past administration, there were deliberations. How can INEC say that it was not acting on the instruction given to it by Federal Government?”
“They have the intention to rig and manipulate the results of this election. It is quite strange for an election that we had been preparing for months to be postponed on the date of election. This is an embarrassment to the nation.
“The excuse was that they could not circulate all the electoral materials across the country. There were complaints in Edo and few other states. What I don’t understand is why should we wait until the day of the election before it was postponed? I believe it was premeditated.
“I don’t trust the Commission. We had meetings with INEC and we asked if they were prepared for this election and they said yes. That was their claim until we heard that the poll had been shifted. I was so shocked.”
