Politics
PDP Tasks Nigerians On 2019 Polls
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says voting decisions of Nigerians in the 2019 general elections will determine the future of the country.
The Party’s National Chairman, Mr Uche Secondus, stated this in his New Year message issued by his media aide, Mr Ike Abonyi, yesterday in Abuja.
He advised Nigerians to see 2019 as “the restoration year” for the country.
He said that 2019 was critical in the life of the nation as it would be a turning point in the emerging political evolution.
“The general election in the country this year 2019 provides ample opportunity for the country to be rescued and restored as the biggest black nation in the world both economically and politically.
“This year provides us the ground to save our democracy and the country from the comatose state misrule has placed it,” he said.
Secondus said that 2019 provided the way to correct the mistake Nigeria made in 2015, saying that good decisions by the voters in 2019 is needed to recover the country.
“Our nation did not bargain for this quantum of avoidable bloodletting and loss of human lives when it voted in 2015.
“Nigerians did not vote in 2015 for their economy which was the best in the continent to be so damaged to merit her the `poòr’ capital of the World.
“It was not the desire of Nigerians in 2015 when they voted to have such frightening unemployment record as confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics after nearly four years,” the chairman said.
He noted that growing insecurity in the land, senseless killings across the country and mauling down of our troops by terrorists raised a lot of concern and called for real change in the nation’s polity.
He said that it would be a huge disservice to the nation if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to give the country free, fair and credible elections in 2019 to enable the will of the people to prevail as to who governs them.
He said that huge consequences await anybody who whether directly or indirectly did anything to undermine the will of the people by trying to manipulate the electoral process.
Secondus advised security agencies in the country to remember that their responsibility was to Nigeria and Nigerians and not to a particular government in power at a time by remaining transparently neutral in all political matters.
“Anything otherwise from security agencies during this electioneering and always amounts to great disservice to the people of Nigeria whose tax pay they use for their upkeep,” he said.
Secondus said that the PDP elevated Nigeria’s democratic status by introducing electoral reforms that saw it defeated and had a seamless transition to an opposition.
He said if the party could do that, democratic world should be concerned at the president’s refusal to sign an amended Electoral Act that would have facilitated a smooth and transparent election.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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