Success Damian:
National Conscience Party (NCP) flag
bearer in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State, Pastor Peters
Osawaru Omoragbon, has insisted that he will go ahead with his electioneering campaigns
even though his name was not on the final list released by the electoral
empire.
He said “I appeal to our teeming
supporters and independent voters to remain law abiding and eschew violence as
we trust in the Rule of Law. Our campaign will continue with all fervency
without let or hindrance in accordance with section 40 of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Omoragbon also drew the attention of
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the court case he
instituted against the body saying “Equally of note was our
warning that should INEC refuse to include my name and that of my party on the
ballot and go ahead with the election, it may be engaging on a futile exercise,”
the statement read.
Omoragbon made the statements in a press
release titled: The Law as the Hope of the Common
Below is verbatim report of the statement:
During my acceptance speech after my Party Primaries on
June 27, 2020, that got me the ticket to be the governorship candidate, for Edo
State, I drew attention on our current court case before the Federal High Court
Lagos, challenging the unconstitutional and illegal deregistration of the
National Conscience Party by INEC which INEC is relying upon to prevent my
participation in the forthcoming election.
This statement further strengthened our resolve above to
remind INEC and its co-travellers in APC and PDP that, whatever victory they
seemed to be enjoying now is pyrrhic. INEC would have lost nothing by allowing
us to contest than it would, if at the end, its action is nullified and a
re-run ordered by the Court of competent jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, may I appeal to our teeming supporters and
independent voters to remain law abiding and eschew violence as we trust in the
Rule of Law. Our campaign will continue with all fervency without let or hindrance
in accordance with section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. It is a shame to learn from INEC’s defence against our originating
summons by confessing that it was incapable of conducting elections for large
numbers of political parties in Nigeria as a basis for preventing the NCP and
myself from contesting in the Edo State governorship election. Hear what INEC
stated in its watery defence in paragraph 17 of its affidavit to our
originating summons:
“That the
proliferation of political parties poses a major challenge to electoral administration
in Nigeria with most of them remaining comatose after registration, but their
presence in the register of political parties in Nigeria only makes the jobs of
INEC ALMOST impossible to perform seamlessly.
According to ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, INEC is the
second-largest government agency in Nigeria, in terms of its staff strength; it
is ranked second to the Nigerian Police Force. As at December 2013, the
Commission’s staff strength was approximately 14,000 full time staff members
across the country. The commission also appoints ad hoc staff for election duty
(about 300, 000 were recruited during the 2011 elections).
It is worrisome for a commission that is funded Directly by
a federation account with unlimited powers and unfettered access to fund to
employ as much staff as it desires to openly make such undermining confession
about multi-party democracy and call it proliferation. It is insulting
to fathom the thinking of INEC when it was responsible in the first place for
the registration of the parties.
Secondly, where is the respect for section 40 of the
Nigerian Constitution that empowers every Nigerian their fundamental right to
form, belong to any political party of their choice to advance their political
beliefs? The Constitution never sets a ceiling to the number of political
parties to be formed by citizens!
Under the current procedure of funding the commission gets
it fund directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the commission is able to
prepare its budget for approval, and thereafter it is disbursed directly to the
commission through the Independent National Electoral Commission Fund (INEC
Fund), which was introduced in the 2006 and 2010 Electoral Acts. The
establishment of the fund enables the commission to directly manage the
disbursement of its funds.
Is it therefore not an absurdity for the commission to
disenfranchise millions of Nigerians just because it is too lazy to perform its
constitutional duties to the electorates? In 2015, INEC got 120 billion Naira
and in 2019 requested and got 189.2 billion Naira to conduct elections those
years. The reasons it gave for the increased budget was the rise in the numbers
of political parties. So, is INEC telling Nigerians that we cannot fund
election process in Nigeria, where a commission like the NDDC could expend 45
billion naira in 4 months during a period where there was total lockdown
world-wide?
As at August 2, 2019 there were 408 registered political
parties in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and out these about 6 are
more popular-The Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green, Scottish
National Party, Northern Ireland, the remaining 402 political parties remain
UNKNOWN till tomorrow in the register of political parties and are featured on
the ballots ONLY when they field a candidate.
None of them has been deregistered because they have no
member in the House of Common, Lords or the county councils. Amongst the
relatively unknown parties is the Workers Revolutionary Party headed by a
Nigerian called Joshua Ogunleye. Would the Nigerian Police Force postulate that
because the population of Nigerians are increasing daily and for it to be able
to engage in crime control, it should begin the process of reducing the
population by eliminating Nigerians it defines as ‘comatose’?
Our lawyer Barrister Marcus Eyarhono has responded
accordingly and like it was in 2002, when the Late Abel Guobadia was disgraced
by the Supreme Court ruling of November 8, 2002, so shall it be in 2020, when
both the corrupt office of the Attorney General of Nigeria and the Mahmood
Yakubu led INEC will be defeated by the Rule of Law.
We do not have a wall-chest or a bullion van of looted
fund to bribe anyone but believe in the honour and integrity of the Judiciary
today in Nigeria as the last hope of the common man on the street. Justice is
assured.
Please, go ahead and promote our agenda to the people of
Edo State under the 10 Care Plus One
Agenda set to care and cater for the well being of the Edo people. This
is the Party’s manifestoes and not my own agenda as currently demonstrated by
the APC and PDP candidates. Their parties have no manifestoes they are proud
of, but ours was developed as far back in 2001 and was submitted to INEC
together with our Party Constitution on 27th of May, 2001. Yet INEC
is supporting APC and PDP by promoting and working for them as its pay master
and such not interested in the ideals and political emancipation of the
Nigerian Masses.
Let me end by expressing my unreserved appreciation to the
Fourth Estate of the Realm on your overwhelming support to our campaign even
where we have no ‘ brown envelopes’ to distribute. It is a sign of the good
things to happen in Nigeria and we are still hopeful.
Signed,
Pastor Peters Osawaru OMORAGBON, Governorship Candidate, Edo State 2020 Elections, National Conscience Party.
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