THE National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress has condemned the use of thugs to intimidate voters, as well as falsification of results in the Local Government elections, held on Saturday, in Ondo State.
The party’s NWC said its candidates and supporters were targeted and attacked before and during the elections, especially by the All Progressives Congress’ thugs, who were doing their paymasters’ bidding to suppress the popularity of ADC candidates.
It therefore called on the APC Federal Government to call its party members to order, saying that ADC directed members not to retaliate with violence because of its belief in peaceful electoral processes and to avoid mayhem.
The party spoke in a communique issued at the end of an emergency NWC meeting in Abuja, on Monday, signed by the National Chairman of the party, Chief Ralphs Nwosu; and National Secretary, Alhaji Said Abdullahi.
The statement said, “Our party, African Democratic Congress, ADC, wishes to express its utter displeasure with the conduct of the Ondo Local Government Area elections, which was marked by unchecked violence and intimidation, mainly by agents of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state.
“ADC candidates and supporters were deliberately targeted before and during the elections. The electorate were prevented from exercising their Civic rights in many polling units, while the results of polling units where voting took place were manipulated by ballot box hijackers, as reported by independent observers.”
The party stated, “We condemn, in totality, the use of thugs, intimidation of voters, falsification of results and inability of law enforcement officers to apprehend culprits. These have become the norm rather than an absurdity under the APC administration in Nigeria.
“ADC victories have been brutally overturned in these LGA elections. We have restrained ourselves and our supporters to avoid mayhem. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently look into these embarrassing electoral process and restore the confidence of the electorate.”
The party said as the Governorship election, scheduled for October 19, 2020, approaches, the President must be committed to ensuring a fair playing ground for all political parties in a bid to allow for credible election.
“We also appeal to civil societies and various election monitoring bodies to design ways of bringing transparency and credibility to elections in Nigeria, especially the Ondo and Edo elections,” it concluded.
