By Yemi Yusuf
The Free Nigeria Movement has described as “disgraceful and unfortunate” the attempts to deny the All Progressives Congress, APC, access to the electoral materials used in the just concluded governorship polls in the state.
The group accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of a plan to cover up its alleged manipulation of the elections for which the APC has gone to court to seek redress.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the leader of the group, Mr. Moses Paul noted that, “We are a country of laws and must remain within the law in all our dealings. People must never be gagged from pursuing legitimate causes to prove their case. We call for the immediate release of all electoral materials to the APC in Delta State.”
Mr. Paul who warned that courts must never be used as an instrument to fuel the desperation of politicians and their surrogates, said his group will continue to demand that the right thing is done to save democracy and our nation from collapse.
“The walls of tolerance, cohesion, and inclusion that was torn down during the 2023 general elections must be rebuilt. One way to begin is through justice,” he said.
Recall that Sheriff Oborevwori, the candidate of the PDP, was declared winner of the March 18 election in the state with 360,234 votes, defeating the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC, who polled 240,229 votes.
However, the APC and its candidate, Omo-Agege swiftly rejected the outcome of the election, alleging serious malpractice in the collation of the election results thus contravening the Electoral Act of 2022.
The APC said it has evidence that the process was characterised by irregularities and that the people of the state were denied the right to freely express their will.
The party has consistently charged the state government-led Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP of frustrating its efforts to access the electoral materials to buttress its case in court.
The Deputy President of the Senate and leader of the party in the state, Omo-Agege, who has sworn to retrieve his mandate, had refused to aspire for a third term bid to the upper house in order to contest the gubernatorial election in the state.
