Army tasks officers on professionalism

[Mirror]

Former Chairman of Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, Prince Saheed Popoola, yesterday alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to force the state electoral commission (KWASIEC) to conduct fresh election into the council without following the law.

In a statement in Offa, Popoola dismissed as futile the alleged plot to disqualify him from contesting the election on the ground that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) under which he once contested had ceased to exist.

The statement reads: "Our attention has been drawn to a meeting Senator Bukola Saraki held with PDP stakeholders at the weekend in which they resolved to railroad the KWASIEC into holding a rerun election into Offa Local Government Area any moment from now.

"While we remain confident that the people of Offa will serve out the appropriate punishment to people who see Kwara as their fiefdom and make no pretence about their intention to lord it over all of us, we wish to remind the PDP and of course KWASIEC that the law governing KWASIEC is that a notice of 150 days shall be given for election into local government council. And this is not retroactive!

We hope the PDP will bear this in mind as they plot to impose themselves on the people of Offa by all crooked means.

"We also wish to remind them, as regards their futile effort to disqualify me on account of ACN having merged with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) that KWASIEC Law did not say that a party must be 90 days old before it could field a candidate for any elective post.

"Since the PDP prides itself as very popular, it should be bold enough to participate under a free and fair atmosphere." But PDP through its state Director of Publicity, Alhaji Masud Adebimpe, denied the allegation, asking APC and its candidates to stop chasing shadows

National Mirror