Oshiomhole: Plot to Postpone Polls Exercise in Futility
Posted on January 26, 2015 by Maris
Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, has described the subterranean plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government to postpone the 2015 federal elections as a futile attempt to postpone the evil day.
Speaking on Sunday at the Palace of the Otaru of Igarra when he presented the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) vying to represent the party at both the federal and state legislative chambers, Oshiomhole said: "The issues are very clear. They have seen it and are now calling for the postponement of the February 14 elections. You cannot postpone the evil day. Nigeria must go for a peaceful election and the election will be peaceful. When God has decreed, no man can do otherwise, when your time is up you can't postpone it.
"What we need now is a leader with courage. The courage to stand for Nigeria and that is why after trying PDP for 16 years, we believe we need General Muhammadu Buhari to take over and secure our country so we can live our life".
He continued: "When General Buhari was in power, the war against indiscipline was felt everywhere. Nigerians have to make a very bold decision; we must make Nigeria work. When General Buhari was a Commanding Officer in the military and some extremists rose up around Kano, he led a squad and pursued them as far as Chad.
"Those are the kind of leaders we need now. Leaders that will confront issues of security squarely, not to lament. Leaders don't lament. You don't change your wife's condition by joining her to cry; wife is crying, husband is crying, children are crying, who then will fix the issues? A man has to come out, this election is about our survival", he said.
Oshiomhole decried the present security challenges facing the territorial integrity and accused the PDP government of gross incompetence and lacking in vision to steer the nation to safety.
He said: "We now have Nigerians who are refugees in their own land. So even to secure the territorial integrity of Nigeria, PDP has shown gross incompetence and today insurgents are controlling a number of our local governments. So the issues this year is about our survival.
"I think the president needs to agree that he failed Nigeria and we cannot give him our key anymore. He needs to go back home so we can try another driver. We don't want him to crash the vehicle because I am a passenger in that vehicle and you are also passengers in that vehicle. It is better to remove one driver so that the passengers can remain on the road.
Governor Oshiomhole while highlighting the many sins of the PDP, urged the people to put into cognisance the decay that PDP-led federal government have plunged the nation into in the past 16 years.
He said: "You must always remember where we are coming from. For us to make good use of our tomorrow, we must interrogate our yesterday. A country that was the pride of Africa. A country that was in the front line in the fight against apartheid and discrimination has today been reduced to a laughing stock among the comity of nations even by African standard.
"If PDP remains in power, the people will never have power. A vote for PDP will mean a vote for backwardness. They deserve to be punished for 16 years of gross mismanagement of our national assets," he emphasised.
The governor however assured the people of Afemai land that his administration would continue to embark on projects and programmes aimed at bringing development to the people and urged them to ensure they collect their Permanent Voters' Cards (PVCs) to vote en mass for all APC candidates.
In a related development, the Labour Party (LP) at the weekend disowned its Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Dan Iwuanyanwu for his statement that the party had endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the LP candidate for the forthcoming February 14 election.
Also, the LP berated the party's BOT chairman for his comment that the party was in support of calls for the postponement of the scheduled election.
The LP National Chairman, Abdulkadir Abdualsalam, stated the position of the party during a briefing with journalists in Akure, Ondo State capital declaring that the party has not taken position on those two critical issues.
Abdulsalam, who was flanked by the National Secretary of the party, Mr Kayode Ajulo, said the two issues are very complicated and critical which no one can just wake up one day and comment about.
"The issue of altering the scheduled elections is delicate, critical and complicated one that somebody cannot just comment about without regard to the party's hierarchy and processes.
"The LP has guidelines on how things should be done. The party has not met with the executive and other stakeholders to deliberate on the matters. As I am talking to you now, the National Executive Committee (NEC) has not met to deliberate on these matters.
"Whoever is making statement on the two matters is not saying the position of the party but doping that on his own. He is not speaking for the party as various stakeholders of the party had not met to discuss", Abdulsalam stated.
The LP chairman said though, the party would not field candidate for the presidential election, the position of the party would make its decision on the presidential candidate to support known or whether not to support any presidential candidate.
"It is only the office of the chairman of the party that can make statements on this and whoever says that the party had adopted any candidate does so at his own peril", he said.
Abdulsalam, who condemned the attack on the president during his campaign in some parts of the country described the act as unfortunate and which should be condemned in its entirety by all Nigerians.
He noted that in the spirit of democracy, candidates should be free to campaign in all parts of the country without any hindrance saying that nobody should jubilate over what happened to the president's campaign train.
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