The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, on Wednesday in Abuja, warns that the 2019 general elections may not hold if the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State is rigged.
He said the election must be free, fair and credible.
Secondus spoke at the national secretariat of the party while playing host to the Forum of PDP Local Government Chairmen who had paid him a courtesy visit.
He said the PDP would do everything within the law to win the 2019 presidential election to “save Nigerians from the All Progressives Congress-inflicted hardship.”
He also charged members of the forum to work hard to reposition the party in their respective domains, just as he assured them that the party under his stewardship was committed to free, fair and credible polls.
He said, “It is no longer business as usual at Wadata as the party has decentralised power to the grassroots to strengthen the party in readiness for the 2019 polls.
“To guard against corrupting party officials in the future, the National Working Committee would not assign hungry people on its assignments at whatever level.
“We have warned them not to rig the Ekiti governorship election because there will be a crisis. There may be no election in 2019 if Ekiti election is rigged.
“We won’t post persons who are hungry on party’s assignments; people who are looking for money. We have resolved here at Wadata that no one can change positions or names of people that have won elections. That was in the past.”
Secondus further charged them to use every legitimate channel to expose the failings of the APC, stressing that come 2019, the concerted efforts of all critical stakeholders of the party would help bring the APC down on its knees.
While noting that the PDP was not against the fight against corruption, Secondus tasked the Department of State Services to immediately charge a former governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, to court instead of keeping him in its custody.
“You cannot detain a man and not take him to court. The government must release Suswam as soon as possible,” he added.
Chairman of the forum, Mr. Kabiru Bello Dan-Dogo, lauded the leadership style of the PDP chairman and promised to mobilise grassroots support to wrest power from the ruling party in 2019.