INEC To Interfere In Party’s Affairs
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has secured the ticket of African Democratic Congress (ADC) with 1,846,370 votes, vowing to resist any further attempts by the Presidency, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and judiciary to interfere in the affairs of the party.
The ADC chieftain and the presidential flag bearer of the party stated this on Wednesday night while accepting his nomination as the presidential candidate of the party after the conclusion of the party primaries.
Recall that Atiku contested for the ticket alongside former Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi, who garnered 504,117 votes and former managing director of defunct FSB International Bank, who polled 177,120 votes.
Atiku promised to prioritise Security, Education, the Economy, Healthcare and the challenge of power- sharing among the constituent units of our country, if elected in 2027.
He said, “Let me warn that any further attempt to interfere in the affairs of the party by the Presidency, INEC and judiciary will be fiercely resisted. Enough is enough.
“I congratulate my fellow contestants for this ticket to represent our great party in the elections scheduled for early next year. I know that you are driven by your patriotism and commitment to a better Nigeria and improved life for our people. I know that, like me, you are deeply concerned about the rapid descent of our country into economic disaster, catastrophic insecurity, extreme nepotism, political intolerance and the drive towards a one-party state by the current government and its party. I thank you for your healthy participation in this democratic process.
“I must state at this juncture that this is not the time to celebrate. No one was defeated because we are one party and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment. Therefore, we have to unite, as we pledged before this process, to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.
“I thank the primary elections Committee for organising peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries. I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders, and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.
“With the primaries behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government.
“We’ll be guided by clear national plans with set targets and timelines in line with commitments enshrined in our party’s manifesto. We will provide clear leadership that will empower our states to competitively attain the potential of meeting the expectations of citizens. That will include working with them to guarantee well-outlined minimum standards of welfare provision in line with international best standards. Ours will be a new era of accountable leadership.
He boasted that ADC is the only party that has so far demonstrated to be democratic, even as he urged Nigerians to join hands with the party to rescue the country.
He said, “We demonstrated that while democracy is being strangled and squashed by the ruling party and its oppressive and anti-democratic government, democracy is alive and well in the African Democratic Congress. In our party, members are allowed to express their views, to have ambitions and to contest for elective positions in a free, fair and transparent process.”
