…if INEC failed to allow the APC participate in the forthcoming election, the outcome could be bloody
A political pressure group from Kogi state under the auspices of the Network of Igala Associations has said excluding the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the rescheduled legislative rerun election in Kogi East was illegal and asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to act within the Ambit of the law and allow all parties to contest the election.
In a petition to the Commission dated July 12, 2016 signed by the Leader of the group, Comrade Ojile Charles Ibrahim, the group said excluding the party from the conduct of the election will run contrary to the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
According to them, in canceling the elections in Kogi state and ordering fresh elections, the Court did not order the exclusion of any political party or candidate, pointing out that the exclusion of the APC in similar rerun elections in Kogi central was a misnomer, illegal and unacceptable.
The group alleged that the commission must have been influenced to the effect that previous rerun election was marred by violence, irregularities, voter apathy as well as the loss of lives and property.
The alleged that the majority of the people of the area refused to participate in the previous legislative rerun election because of the unlawful exclusion of their popular candidate, adding that the one Senator Atai Aidoko who complained about the election was not even the candidate of the PDP as proven by the ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The group asks the commission to conduct a fresh rerun election in Kogi Central and Kogi East Senatorial districts, adding that if INEC failed to allow the APC participate in the forthcoming election, the outcome could be bloody.
According to them, INEC is suppose to be a unisex umpire, adding that “what is happening now portray INEC as being biased against the APC and its candidates.”
Credit: The Nation
