During the country’s recently finished by-elections, governors chosen on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP have accused the federal government of anti-democratic practices and intimidation.
The governors were only hurting from their defeats at the polls, the Presidency said, calling the accusations “baseless.”
The August 9 by-elections, which were held to fill Senate and House of Representatives seats that were left empty after earlier holders resigned or died, were marred by accusations of vote-buying, violence, and poor voter turnout.
The PDP only won one constituency at the end of the exercise, while the All Progressives Congress won elections in twelve.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party secured one, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance secured two.
However, the ruling party was accused of utilizing federal power to rig the elections in multiple states by the PDP and other opposition parties, such as the NNPP and the African Democratic Congress, which rejected the results.
The PDP Governors’ Forum claimed in a statement released following its meeting in Gusau, Zamfara State, on Saturday that intimidation and an overabundance of security troops tainted the elections.
“The Forum urges Nigerians to exercise greater caution in safeguarding their votes and denounces the excessive militarization of last Saturday’s by-elections, which were marked by numerous anomalies, vote-buying, and violence.
The communiqué said, “The Forum is deeply grateful to PDP members and supporters across the country for their unwavering loyalty despite severe intimidation and numerous anti-democratic acts by the APC-led Federal Government in the most recent by-elections.”
The governors applauded the party’s tenacity in resisting “planned defections.”
They claimed that the diversion would not lessen the PDP’s appeal or “the growing public yearning for the return of affordable living and relative security experienced under PDP-led administrations.”
“We urge members and supporters of our great party, as well as the entire citizenry, to hold fast to the PDP’s vision and principles, in spite of the growing intimidation of the opposition by the government in power,” the governors said, adding that the sad situation “should only be seen as the desperation of a political party with no agenda, no vision, and doomed to face inevitable rejection by the masses.”
Temitope Ajayi, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, stated in an interview that there was insufficient proof to support the accusations made against the Federal Government.
“What anti-democratic acts and intimidation are they referring to?” he asked. You lost the election you ran for. All it demonstrates is that the PDP has lost its mind. They are inventing excuses rather than acknowledging their failure. This government’s stance is not in any way anti-democratic.
He asserted that security agencies shielded their candidates throughout the by-elections and that opposition parties were neither intimidated nor denied the right to freely campaign, cast ballots, or express their opinions.
He asserts that a robust opposition is beneficial to any governing administration because it upholds democracy and keeps the government in check.
However, he bemoaned the “total disarray” of the alliance and the PDP.
Ajayi insisted that the opposition’s “falsehood and excuses” would not divert the government’s attention from its goal of repositioning the economy.
On Saturday, attempts to contact the national leadership of the APC were unsuccessful.
Saleh Zazzaga, the chairman of the APC Forum in North Central, however, denied the governors’ charges.
The results of the by-election, according to Zazzaga, demonstrated the APC’s might and the faith that Nigerians had in President Bola Tinubu.
“Is there any PDP again?” he asked. Which PDP group is it? PDP is no longer present. There are groups. Thus, they are not taken seriously by us. They’re split. We therefore have nothing to threaten anyone with.
“The elections demonstrate that President Tinubu is returning and that we are completely on the ground. People genuinely support us, which is why they gave our party a landslide victory in the most recent by-election.
Zazzaga highlighted the APC’s electoral triumphs, citing wins in the states of Kano, Kogi, and Zamfara as evidence that the party was still in control of politics.
“We prevailed in Zamfara, Kogi, and Kano. He went on to say that the most recent election served as a kind of trial run for the events of 2027.
Additionally, he rejected the PDP governors’ viewpoint as irrelevant, claiming that they did not speak for their party’s highest decision-making body.
Are the governors the party’s highest authority? They are no longer the party’s highest body. The party has its own leaders and board members. Therefore, we don’t take declarations made by the governors for specific reasons seriously,” he stated.
Zazzaga went on to say that regardless of how well the APC-led government performed, opposition parties were inevitably prone to criticism.
