the general elections. Reacting, the Director of
Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential
Campaign Organization, Femi Fani-Kayode said
the decision made by INEC was in the interest
of the whole nation as well as a move to
deepen our democracy.
"Since this decision has been taken in the
interest of deepening democracy and in
national interest, we accept it in good faith
and we commend INEC’s courage and
obvious commitment to ensuring a free
and fair election. With this decision, INEC
has allayed the fears of many of our
citizens that they may not have had the
opportunity to vote for the candidates and
parties of their choice on Election Day.
INEC has, by the decision, ensured that no one
will be disenfranchised and has helped to
guarantee the safety and security of every
single one of our citizens during the course of
the elections. We are constrained to take this
opportunity to wholeheartedly condemn the
opposition APC for its paranoid delusions and its
far-fetched and childish conspiracy theories
when it comes to the issue of poll shift. By
insisting that the elections should be conducted
on February 14th the opposition was not only
dangerously flirting with chaos but was also
putting our country firmly on the path of
confrontation, division, injustice, disaster and
destruction. This is especially so, given the fact
that no less than 34 percent of eligible voters
have not been able to access their Permanent
Voter Cards (PVCs) up till today- just seven
days before the original date of the election. A
situation where such a large percentage of our
people would have been disenfranchised is
unacceptable and the fact that the APC was
insensitive to that fact speaks volumes. We are
aware that INEC is having numerous logistical
problems and numerous internal challenges and
we believe that the poll shift will afford them
the badly-needed time to tackle and resolve
those problems and challenges before we arrive
at the new dates that have been fixed for the
elections. We believe that INEC must have
drawn a useful guide from available security
reports from the North-eastern zone where,
despite the very serious challenges that our
people are facing there from Boko Haram, we
believe that elections must hold. We must insist
on this in order to ensure that no parts of the
country lose their right to freely, safely and
peacefully participate in the coming elections
and to vote for the candidates of their choice. It
is against the backdrop of these developments
that we commend INEC for finding the courage
to do the right thing. In the same breath, we
condemn the opposition APC leaders and
members who are set to unleash confusion,
mendacity and despondency everywhere and
who are blaming everyone except themselves
for the situation in which we have found
ourselves. It is a glaring testimony to their
irresponsible and reckless disposition that they
continue to insist on having an election on a
date that the institution that is constitutionally
charged to conduct that election has said that it
would be impossible to go ahead under the
present circumstances. The shift of date is a
welcome development. It is solely the decision
of INEC. The decision is not ours but we
commend them (INEC) for showing courage by
owning up to the fact that they are not ready to
go ahead on February 14th. The shift will help
INEC to organise themselves properly, to put
their house in order and to put in place all the
necessary arrangements for the polls. The shift
will also enable the nation’s security agencies
to do what they have to in order to secure the
north-eastern zone and ensure that elections
can hold there. In conclusion, we wish to
encourage our supporters and we urge them to
remain calm and to be patient. Our party is
strong; our candidate is confident; our cause is
just; our God is mighty and our victory is
assured. No matter what happens and no matter
how long it takes, we shall prevail. God bless
Nigeria.”he said
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