APC rejects call for postponement of Ondo governorship election

Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress, APC, has said the Ondo State governorship election billed for Saturday should not be postponed.

The party was reacting to a call by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone the election.

A PDP faction led by Ahmed Makarfi made the call following an indefinite adjournment of a suit to determine who its candidate for the election is.

The Court of Appeal made the adjournment saying it would not rule on who was the right PDP candidate until a Supreme Court decision.

Eyitayo Jegede of Mr. Makarfi’s faction seeks to replace Jimoh Ibrahim of the Ali Sheriff faction as PDP candidate.

“We call on INEC to postpone the Election pending the determination of the suit before the Supreme Court,” PDP said on Saturday.

“We make this call against the backdrop of the fact that INEC is a party to the suit before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and is well aware of the steps taken by certain parties to the suit to frustrate the course of justice.”

The APC on Sunday rejected that call.

In a statement signed by its National Secretary, the APC described PDP’s candidacy tussle as “self-inflicted.”

“The PDP cannot hold Ondo state and indeed the country hostage on account of its internal crisis.

“Instead of making the ridiculous election postponement request on INEC, the PDP should focus and redirect its energy towards putting its house in order,” the statement said.

The APC also said it “is not party to any scheme to subvert justice and undermine the very progressive and participatory democracy which the APC fiercely stands for”.

It called on INEC to ignore PDP’s “bizarre” request and concentrate on delivering a free, fair, credible and transparent ballot on election day. 

The party said Ondo electorate are wise and will vote for the candidate with a proven track record of performance on election day.

” A vote for the tested, trusted and credible APC governorship candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN will bring about massive multi-faceted development which has eluded the state,” it said.