Date: 2017-09-24

FEW weeks to conduct of local government election in Kwara State, a group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates has threatened to stop the polls over alleged ploy by the state Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) to take some candidates of the party out of the race.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, the coalition of PDP candidates said the reason advanced by the electoral commission that the affected candidates failed to meet the deadline was a deliberate attempt designed to disenfranchise the affected candidates.

It is recalled that the KWASIEC had claimed that no nomination forms of the flag-bearers of the party in Offa council were returned to the commission as at the expiration of the deadline of Tuesday September 19, 2017 given to participating political parties in the election to do so.

However, the coalition of PDP candidates said that chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the party for Offa, Oyun and Ifelodun local government areas were disallowed by the electoral umpire from registering ahead of the expiration of the deadline.

The Chairmanship of the coalition, Esinrogunjo Musbaudeen, who spoke to reporters alongside other party flag-bearers, urged KWASIEC to reverse its decision to allegedly eliminate the affected candidates out the council polls.

The coalition said it would not fold its arms and allow the rights of citizens to be trampled upon in a democratic dispensation, declaring that Kwara was neither a Banana Republic nor a lawless state.

"The attention of the coalition of party candidates vying for various positions cut across all the political parties in the forthcoming local government election in Kwara State had been drawn to the purported and kangaroo decision taken by the leadership of KWASIEC to deliberately prevent some candidates from participating in the forthcoming election with flimsy excuses of not meeting up with the dateline set for the payment of levies to Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission.

"The unfortunate news was not only received with utmost shock but instantly rejected because it's calculated attempt to victimize the candidates in question on reasons best known to KWASIEC.

"We wish to state categorically clear without fear or favour that the candidates that were purportedly disallowed from registering from Offa, Oyun, Ifelodun, etc made frantic efforts to meet up with the dateline set by KWASIEC for the payment but all their efforts were frustrated by the same KWASIEC. It is well known that the dateline was September 19, 2017, KWASIEC vehemently refused to attend to these candidates because they had ulterior motives not to recognize their candidature. All efforts to make them see reasons to accept the payment from candidates of the aforementioned local governments hit a brick wall.

"On this note, we the concerned coalition of party candidates in the forthcoming election call on KWASIEC, to as a matter of urgency, recognize the candidature of the aforementioned candidates, who were not allowed to register by KWASIEC or we will not allow election to hold in all LGAs.

"We want to reiterate that Kwara State is not a Banana Republic where lawlessness and impunity is the order of the day. We cannot fold our arms and watch this kind of malicious decision happening in a democratic dispensation.

"At this juncture, we call on all concerned stakeholders in Kwara State as well as the security agencies, to take note of the ugly situation trending. We are law abiding citizens. As such, we shall not take the laws unto our hands. But we appeal for swift intervention to help in the restoration of sanity in the polity. Justice, equity and fairness must be shown to all and sundry irrespective of class, party affiliation or otherwise.

"Finally, we equally appeal to the supporters of the candidates in question to be calm, humane and resolute while we pursue this cause to the logical conclusion. Nothing more, nothing less. Kwara State belongs to all of us and belongs to nobody", the coalition said.