Buhari & Atiku. |
The Presidential
candidate of the PDP and former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar, has
called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign into law, the Electoral Act amendment
which is on his desk, if he is really interested in the conduct of free, fair
and credible elections.
Speaking
at the inauguration of his Presidential Campaign Council on Thursday in Abuja,
Atiku said that signing the Electoral Act Amendment into law was necessary
because elections were governed by laws and that good laws were required to
ensure credible elections.
“Such
laws constrain the behaviour of all who are involved in the electoral process,
including the candidates and their supporters, security agents and the
electoral umpire (in this case the INEC)”, Atiku said.
Atiku
predicted that the 2019 presidential election would be tough based on the
desperate moves of the APC government to cling to power at all costs.
“We
are facing an APC government that is desperate to cling to power at all costs,
which means that this will be a tough Presidential election”, he said.
The
former Vice President said it would take a focused campaign that would not take
anything for granted and a campaign of eternal vigilance for victory to be
guaranteed.
Atiku
said that he was not surprised that the APC government was running a campaign
of “personal attacks and innuendo”, which he said, was caused by the fact that
party had failed to keep its promises to the Nigerian electorate.
“Having
little to point to as its achievements in nearly four years in office it wants
to distract the attention of our people by choosing personal attacks over
issues.
“A
government that has been in power for nearly its full term should be
campaigning on its achievements, its record, rather than personal attacks and
fresh promises it obviously will not keep.
“Nigerians
know that the APC government has failed woefully. We have to continue to remind
our people of that and also tell them what we will do differently to get Nigeria
working again”, he said.
The
Waziri Adamawa said that he had made it clear right from the beginning that his
2019 Presidential campaign would be focused on issues rather than personal
attacks and therefore enjoined members of the Council to ensure that
issued-based campaign was maintained.
He
called on the leadership of the party to ensure that enlightened, resourceful
and well-trained men and women were hired as agents at the polling stations and
collation centres.
Atiku
said that a campaign structure that would ensure uniformity in its operations
had been put in place but added that states could set up structures that would
address local peculiarities.
“However
there will be no parallel structures so we can avoid confusion in our
activities and our messaging. We must run a disciplined campaign that stays on
message all the time”, Atiku said.
He
called on the Campaign Council to establish a functional and effective
Situation Room to monitor the campaigns and the electoral process itself until
the last vote is counted and the results announced.
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