The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has come out to kick against what it describes as unwarranted interference by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its internal affairs.
PDP recently declared that INEC does not have the constitutional power to regulate its meetings.
Speaking during a media interactive session held on Sunday at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, revealed that the commission has no right to interfere in its National Executive Committee (NEC) sessions.
According to him, the PDP went as far as informing the commission about the upcoming NEC meeting in line with established practice, despite such meetings falling outside the categories of political events that legally require INEC’s involvement.
He stated that under Nigeria’s laws and the PDP constitution, INEC is only required to be notified of conventions, congresses, or primaries involving the election of party officers or candidates.
“INEC has no role in the regular meetings of the NWC or NEC. These are internal party matters, as clearly established by the Supreme Court in numerous rulings.
We did not state that the meeting was for electing officers, conducting primaries, or nominating candidates for elective positions. Yet, the Acting Secretary of INEC, Halilu Aminu, decided to unilaterally assign a purpose to our meeting,” he said.
Debo further noted that INEC has no authority to dictate who could sign internal party correspondence, especially since the PDP currently has an Acting National Chairman and Acting National Secretary.
He concluded by accusing the commission of attempting to undermine the PDP under the guise of regulation.
“Whoever signs a letter is an internal affair of the party. It is not for INEC to dictate who can or cannot sign. If an Acting Secretary signed the letter, we couldn’t have rejected it on that basis.
Why this desperation to undermine political parties, seemingly to push towards a one-party state and stifle opposition? This is push-pull thinking, it’s a hallucination. The APC should understand that this is a delusion.
The challenge for us now, as a party, is to question: Who is the Acting Secretary working for? What is his objective? Why is he creating an agenda for our party’s routine NEC meeting?
INEC cannot cancel our meetings. It is the party’s prerogative to decide such matters. INEC has no authority to do so,” he added.
