The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party has distanced itself from the ongoing
controversy over the Ekiti rigging tape in which
some senior members of the party were heard
planning how to rig the governorship election held in
the state on June 16 last year.
In the recording, Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose; a
former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikore
Obanikoro, former Senator Iyiola Omisore and other
individuals were heard discussing with a serving
Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army, Aliyu Momoh,
on how to use the military to rig the election in the
state.
Most of the actors involved in the saga admitted there
was a meeting, but they all denied that rigging was
discussed.
In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the
spokesperson of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said those
mentioned in the scandal did not carry out the alleged
rigging scheme on behalf of the party.
He said the party does not want to get involved in the
controversy triggered by the leaked recording and
would rather prefer that those mentioned in connection
with the matter respond individually.
He said the PDP as a party has never requested anyone
to rig on its behalf and will never be engaged in
electoral malpractices.
"Any tape whether real or imaginary can be concocted
in this digital world; we don't know what is real and
what is not," Mr Metuh said. "I also believe that the
actors in their personal capacity will be able to talk
about what really happened.
"As a political party, we have never engaged in
planning or getting involved in any conspiracy to rig
elections or alter the will of the people," Mr. Metuh
said.
He also said the party has so far demonstrated maturity
in elections held in the last two years.
Mr. Metuh admitted that he had not listened to the
recording but wondered whether the tape was even
authentic at all.
"We had elections in five states in the last two years,
PDP won in only one state; how comes its just that one
that we won, that a tape is suddenly surfacing to say we
planned rigging.
"Why did we not plan rigging in Edo, Ondo, Anambra
and Osun? How comes the only one that we won is the
one they want to tarnish? It is a calculated attempt to
sway the minds of Nigerians that the PDP is not capable
of winning in a free and fair election.
"Our people are even raising the fact that we were
rigged out in Osun; but we are not engaged in
propaganda, we are not engaged in manufacturing
tapes, We won election in Ekiti state because of the love
of our party, and the massive support that our
gubernatorial candidate, Ayo Fayose, enjoys in the
entire state.
The PDP spokesperson said the Ekiti tape saga is just
another propaganda by the APC, saying if the APC is
sure of the authenticity of the tape, it should approach
the law courts to seek redress.
"In this era of campaign, where you have a lot of
propaganda, anybody with any concrete evidence can go
to either the law enforcement agencies or the law
courts to seek redress.
"For us, we are more involved in the campaign than
propaganda; our first thought actually is that it is
simply just propaganda, it is only the court that can
decide if on the matter of Ekiti election, just like the
tribunal and court of appeal have decided. If they think
there is fresh evidence, they can go to court," he said. source: goal |
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