INEC must sanction Jonathan, PDP —APC

Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to sanction President Goodluck Jonathan and his party for engaging in alleged unlawful early campaigns or risk a lawless political space.
Its spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, in a statement from London alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Jonathan were embarking on unconstitutional campaigns
under the guise of liberation, family or unity rallies across the country.
The party said the president exhibited a gross abuse of executive power by leading his party to allegedly prematurely kick-start the campaign for the 2015 elections, in violation of the electoral law.
It said if the action was anything to go by, the 2015 general election would not be free, fair and credible, and asked INEC to assert its independence, by sanctioning the alleged lawbreakers since no one is above the law.
APC warned that if INEC failed to act, it would have lost any moral authority to stop other parties from also hitting the hustings ahead of time.
‘’Hiding under nomenclature, this president has led his party to engage in brazen lawlessness and shameless impunity. They have gained an undue advantage over other parties, or beaten the gun, in athletics parlance. Therefore, they should suffer the consequences of their action, the least of which is a strong public rebuke, to be followed by stipulated sanctions if they persist.
‘’If nothing is done to check this lawlessness, Nigerians should brace up for more in the days ahead. What example is the president laying
by violating the law? What signal is he sending to Nigerians about the need to respect the laws of the land? When a president brazenly violates the electoral law under the guise of some rally, has he not started election rigging? Has he not already started compromising the electoral umpires and the security agencies?
‘’We know the president’s conniving handlers and advisers do not appreciate that a higher standard of conduct is expected of the president of Nigeria, through his statements, actions and body language. Unfortunately, everything points to the fact that the president, by his serial violation, is telling Nigerians and the whole world loud and clear that the coming elections will neither be free,fair or credible!’’ APC said.
Meanwhile, the APC (South-East), has berated  President Jonathan over his recent comment that the APC was not a progressive party.
Spokesman of the APC in the zone, Osita Okechukwu, described the statement as unfortunate, adding that  APC remained the only progressive party in the country.
According to him, Jonathan is a “man desperate to get reelected in the 2015 general election, by hook or crook.”
The party said that Jonathan’s desperation was for the second time unveiled during the PDP South-East zonal rally held in Enugu during the weekend.
APC stated that President Jonathan’s verbal attack on their party in Enugu gave him out as someone obsessed with do-or-die politics in his bid for second term.
Jonathan, while in Enugu, said that the APC was progressing to nowhere in particular but to hell and that PDP was the only true democratic party in Nigeria.