Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, says the governing party will embark on nationwide electioneering campaigns, even though the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has placed a ban on campaigns after announcing new dates for national elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu announced that the presidential and national assembly elections will now hold on February 23, while the governorship and state assembly polls will hold on March 9.
Yakubu had cited logistic reasons for the postponement.
While taking questions from stakeholders at the International Conference Center (ICC) in Abuja afterwards, Yakubu said the ban on campaigns, placed on political parties 24 hours before elections in accordance with the electoral act, will continue, in spite of the postponement.
Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act stipulates that “for the purposes of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day”.
However, Oshiomhole considers INEC’s stance on the campaign ban, in spite of the shift in date of the vote, flawed and inconsistent with the provisions of the electoral act.
Oshiomhole makes his case
The APC Chairman also said not campaigning for a week, would result in voter apathy.
“You know that when you have low voter turnout, that is when election rigging is most easy. Voter turnout and voter apathy can result from the confusion. If at our level, we are sufficiently disturbed, what would be the fate of the ordinary man?
"I think we need to remind them across the country that elections have been rescheduled and they should have trust, faith, and remain determined to vote. The process of doing that would require that we return to campaign between now and Thursday this week. Friday is not a campaign day”, Oshiomhole said.
“To ask us as a political party not to go out? The members, our people, would have forgotten. Some would have assumed that ‘look, I’m not sure what these people want’. And the result could be very, very low turnout. That is not good for a party that has huge, huge support base. It can only be good for a party that is not sure of its level of grassroots support.
“So, without consulting INEC, we are proceeding and we are ready to meet them in court. Because they cannot by administrative fiat amend or distort extra provisions in the relevant electoral act and those laws are not secret to INEC.”
PDP also says it will continue with campaigns
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had also told INEC that it was going to defy its campaign embargo.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said it “rejects the wrongful administrative prohibition of open campaigns by INEC, holding that such administrative pronouncement was erroneous, directly in conflict with the provision of the Electoral Act and is not backed by any other law in our country.
“The clear import of this provision, in the current situation, is that given the postponement of the election to February 23, 2019, the 24 hours requirement for closure of all public campaigning falls at midnight of February 21.
“The PDP reminds INEC that whenever its administrative pronouncement conflicts with the Electoral Act, such administrative pronouncement must bow before the law. The party charges INEC to be appropriately guided while directing its members to await further directives ahead of its reopening of campaigns”.
President Buhari has informed INEC that it will “explain its incompetence” to the nation after the elections.
There are indications that INEC will review its campaign ban.