The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council says it has received information that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is about to be summoned to the Presidential Villa and told to shift the January 16 presidential election, which is now 80 days away.
In a statement on Wednesday by its Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the Council said it was sounding the alarm before the meeting took place.
It urged President Bola Tinubu to drop any such move and called on INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, to reject any instruction to alter the timetable and to make any such approach public immediately.
The Council argued that the election date belongs to Nigerians and should not be rewritten behind closed doors at the Villa.
It said that if the President believes citizens want him to serve another four years, he should face them at the polls rather than seek extra time through the back door.
According to the statement, Nigerians have endured three and a half years of rising prices, falling incomes and persistent hardship, and have the right to pass judgment on the government on 16 January.
It said a government that has made life so difficult must not be allowed to delay its day of reckoning.
The Council acknowledged that Ebola is a serious public health concern. It said health professionals must be free to contain the disease and that INEC must take every necessary step to protect voters and election workers.
It noted, however, that the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said there is currently no reason to postpone the election, and warned that this position must not be twisted into a political excuse for delay.
The ADC put INEC, domestic observers and international election monitors on notice. It said any proposal to change the timetable must be made openly, backed by published health evidence and subjected to public scrutiny.
“The Presidency must not use a health emergency to escape an electoral verdict,” the Council said.
