…Insists on electronic transmission of results

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed confidence that its November national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, will give birth to a strong party.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said the party has recalibrated in the last two months and has put its act together.

This, he said, has put the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in panic mode, leading to abandonment of governance for early campaigns.

Ologunagba said even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed frustration with the early campaign by the APC, which he said is heating up the polity.

“The reason for this behaviour is because the APC (and) President (Bola) Tinubu, they are jittery about the recalibration, and the fact that a PDP that is well known to Nigeria, doing what it knows how to do best, which is reconciliation, getting people together, working together and giving everybody a sense of belonging.

“That’s why the APC is jittery, and that’s why you find that they begin to campaign less than two years to the next election.

“The outcome of that is they now calibrate to a new level where what they do is to get panicky and begin to do what I call endorsement shopping. The president and APC are looking for endorsement,” he said.

The PDP spokesperson stated that if indeed President Tinubu is doing well, “you let your work speak for you. You don’t want to say Come and endorse me. So it is panic mode.”

So the outcome of the convention at Ibadan is going to give birth to a very solid party, having regard to its character in the past.

“For 16 years, Nigerians remember with nostalgia the performance of this party, where the country was going progressively towards a positive direction

“You recall some of those high points where, under the PDP, this country paid off its debts; today, we’re back in debt. The APC, as a government, takes lies and propaganda as an act of governance.

“The president said about a week ago, before the cameras, that the country has achieved its revenue target, as of August.

“And then you begin to ask yourself, is it a voodoo economy? What does the president say?

“There’s no reality, there’s no connection between what he is saying and what you feel in the marketplace,” he said.

Ologunagba insisted on electronic transmission of election results and wondered why, in a country where online banking is working perfectly well, even in remotest areas, they could complain of a network glitch when it comes to transmission of election results.

“That seems to be institutional deliberate manipulation to ensure that we manipulate the process,” he said.

The party insisted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) must be used by INEC to conduct the 2027 general elections.

“We as a party are going to take charge. Nigerians will not listen to any story about a glitch. There must be none because the infrastructure in the country today can support it.

“INEC should be on notice that the election in 2027 must be seamless; it must be free, fair, transparent, and there must be no glitches because there will be no glitches, and there must not be because we as a party will lead the charge to ensure that the process is credible.

“Any attempt to abridge the rights of Nigerians to choose their own leaders, of course, will be resisted,” he stated.