PDP’s resistance to use of Card Reader: We have been proven right – APC

The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation has restated the party`s concern by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use electronic card reader in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, Director of Media and Publicity of the organisation, raised the concern at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

“Our position on the card reader remains that the machine has not been tested in any election. “There are bases for genuine concern over the use of the machine, for the first time, in a crucial election of this magnitude.

“We are aware that the All Progressives Congress (APC), is working in cahoots with some strategically placed elements to use the card readers to frustrate accreditation in some parts of the country’’, he saidHe, however, insisted on the deployment of soldiers in the forthcoming elections, as was done in the gubernatorial elections in Edo and Osun states, where the opposition won. Fani-Kayode said that the PDP-led Federal Government had no intention of interfering with INEC’s activities. “The PDP, having earned pass marks for overseeing the conduct of free and fair elections in the past, has no plans to compromise the coming elections’’, he said.

He debunked allegations by the APC that the PDP had plans to further shift the forthcoming general elections and compromise the electoral process. “The truth is that we are not strategising to shift the election dates. We are not trying to frame up Jega. “We have no plans to plant any illegal substance in the bags of any of the leaders of the APC whenever they travel.’’

He added that President Goodluck Jonathan was not planning to arrest opposition leaders before the elections as the APC alleged. Fani-Kayode stressed that the PDP was, however, not surprised that the APC was resorting to peddling falsehood in order to gain public sympathy.

He alleged that the APC leaders had perfected a plan to rig the forthcoming elections, through the lopsided distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

“They were very comfortable with the fact that 34 per cent of registered voters had not collected their PVCs as at Feb. 14 before the presidential election was postponed.’’ He expressed happiness that many eligible voters were now going out to collect their PVCs.

APC reacts

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said the PDP’s public avowal to oppose the use of Card Readers in this month’s rescheduled election has shown the accuracy of the APC’s accusations that the ruling party is doing all in its powers to either prevent the election from holding or to rig it.

In a statement issued in Lagos,Thursday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described as very curious the fact that the PDP that rushed to the press to deny the APC’s claims quickly turned around to confirm them.

”At the press conference we addressed on Wednesday, which rattled the PDP and the Jonathan Administration so much, we listed theof the PDP/Jonathan Administration for holding theelection: No PVCs, No Card Readers, No Jega and the fact that theywant the military deployed to harass and intimidate voters.

”We mentioned ‘Card Readers’ at least three times during the press conference, and said they (PDP/Jonathan Administration are doing everything possible to sabotage the machine and prevent its use.

”Both the spokesmen for the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign Organization rushed to the press to deny any such ‘reprehensible’ plan. But a few hours later, the spokesman for the campaign organization told an incredulous country that they would oppose the use of Card Reader, apparently after the spokesmen were overruled by their party.

Obviously, these men are outsiders in their own party and it is now obvious that the opposition knows more about the inner workings of their party than they do,” it said.

APC said that in an apparently-choreographed show, some 15 portfolio political parties called a press conference to also announce that they will oppose the use of the Card Reader, vowing to boycott the elections and use a legal process to prevent the use of the machine.

The party said these syndicated threats are the latest indications ofthe mortal fear in the corridors of power about the machine that hasnow become the nemesis of election riggers and manipulators worldwide.

It said contrary to the claim by the PDP, Nigerians are ready for a free, fair and credible elections to be made possible by the use of the Card Reader, and will massively resist any move to dump the machine.