The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), has tasked its aggrieved members and supporters in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Abaji Area Council who were disappointed by the judgment of the Election Tribunal against the party to maintain peace and await the verdict of the Appeal Court on the matter.
PDP FCT Chairman, Hon, Sunday Zakah Dogo, who gave the advice while interacting with newsmen at his residence in Kuje, said it would be a futile exercise for supporters to embark on demonstrations or protests when the Appeal Court has not made any pronouncement on the case.
He stated that “everyone knows that the PDP won the election of February 23, 2022 convincingly in AMAC and for people to start doctoring result sheets and allocating votes to another party is unacceptable. We are hopeful that the Appeal Court will look deeply at the decision of the tribunal and give us victory.
The PDP chairman remarked that “Courts should not allocate results. It is INEC that has the powers to count votes and announce results and not the election tribunal like it was done in this case,” adding, “We however believe that the Appeal Court will do the needful by retuning our victory to us.”
He pointed out that the era when party members struggle to be appointed as agents of candidates during every election has been cancelled by the provisions of the Electoral Act as amended, which now insists that only people who are IT complaint will serve as agents of political parties since results will now be transmitted electronically by INEC soon after elections.
He said “We have gone round to sensitise our members on the position of INEC and the provisions of the Electoral Act as amended, which states that only intellectuals will be used as agents.
“When it comes to appointing agents, everyone shows interest but with the sensitisation, nobody will claim not to have heard about the new laws. The era of fighting at the polling booths has passed because digitalization and electronic devices have taken over,” Zakah declared.
He recalled that INEC recently insisted that the electronic mode of transmitting results will be deployed in the 2023 general elections after its successful use in the Ekiti and Osun elections.
On why the party did not contest the loss of Gwagwalada chairmanship election at the tribunal, Zakah said that stakeholders in the council met and decided to allow peace to reign by not challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress [APC] candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri.
“The rule in our party is that when a candidate does not indicate interest in pursuing the legal option to recover his mandate, the party will not force the person. In the Gwagwalada case, the stakeholders there reached an agreement to allow the person who was declared winner to rule for peace to reign in the area council even though the PDP won six, out of ten, councillorship seats,” Zakah said.
Hon Dogo also urged the FCT electorate to vote for the incumbent senatorial flag bearer; Senator Phillip Aduda for another term in office stating that the senator did well in the past by bringing dividends of democracy to the people throughout the territory.
