We will never accept election results under Zakari –PDP

Firstclass newsline gathered that the Peoples Democratic Party said on
Thursday that it would reject any election conducted by the Acting
Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Mrs. Amina
Zakari.
The rejection, the PDP however said, would be limited to elections in
which the party did not win.
"It will be very difficult to accept any result of the election
conducted by Amina Zakari. It will be difficult for the PDP to accept
result of election if we lose under Zakari," the National Publicity
Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, said.
This is even as the party told the international community to caution
President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress over what
the opposition PDP described as "draconian and authoritarian rule by
the present government."
Metuh spoke when he paid a visit to the National Democratic Institute
and the International Republican Institute in Abuja.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the visit by Metuh was not unconnected
to the planned visit of Buhari to the United States of America on
Sunday.
Speaking during the visits, Metuh alleged that the INEC acting
chairman was a 'daughter' to Buhari; hence she would not be fair in
the discharge of her responsibilities as the nation's electoral
umpire.
Zakari was appointed into the INEC five years ago as a national
commissioner by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2015
elections, was defeated by President Buhari of the APC.
Metuh said, "We have INEC and the idea is that people heading it
should be above board, but the present ruling party has appointed the
'daughter' of the President to head the position.
"There is nowhere in the world where such has happened, a person who
has a relationship with the President.
"I am drawing the attention of the IRI to this. Buhari has appointed
his 'daughter' as INEC chairman; we believe there will not be
fairness."
But the APC, in its reaction to the PDP position, said under Nigeria's
laws, elections could not be invalidated "just because one of the
political parties has refused to recognise the law."
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told
our correspondent on the telephone that his party would only wish the
PDP well in its adventure.
He said, "Under our law, elections are not invalidated just because
one of the 29 political parties has refused to recognise a commission
properly constituted by the law.
"If the PDP says it won't recognise the head of the commission, who
was even appointed into the commission by the PDP government, we can
only wish it well."
The PDP spokesman also decried Buhari's style of leadership, alleging
that the President had been sidelining PDP governors in running the
affairs of the country.
He said that under Jonathan, governors from the opposition parties
always accompanied the former President on foreign trips.
He alleged that Buhari had been working hard to silence the opposition
by "harassing, muscling and intimidating them."
He cited the issue of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu,
adding that the Presidency had been using the security apparatus to
intimidate the deputy senate president.
He said, "I want to alert the international community on issues that,
if they are not handled very well, may truncate our democracy. We have
witnessed a remarkable change in the past few days.
"We encourage freedom and in just two months in power, we have
witnessed organised witch-hunt by the leadership of the APC in trying
to muscle our people."
Responding, the NDI Resident Country Director, Jasper Veen, noted that
anywhere in the world, the most important area to tackle was the
political party itself.
He noted that the way Nigerian political parties recruit people for
key positions was a reflection of the political system.
He drummed up support for internal democracy, consoling the PDP that
to be in the opposition was not easy.
The Resident Programme Officer of the IRI, Sentell Barnes, on the
other hand promised the PDP to take up the information shared by
Metuh.
He said that there was strong commitment between the US government and
Nigeria, insisting that the US would ensure that democratic tenets
reigned in Nigeria.
Firstclassnewsline.net