No court order on INEC over PDP candidates –Ondo govt

Against the re­ports of a court order against the Independent Na­tional Electoral Commis­sion (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has stated that no judge stopped the electoral commission from publishing names of can­didates from the state.

In a statement by the Ondo State Commissioner for Infor­mation, Kayode Akinmade, on behalf of the party, the PDP said the report was untrue and handiwork of the agents of the opposition within its fold.

It stated that at no time did any court make such pro­nouncement, while explaining that the opposition within the PDP, spearheaded by a busi­ness mogul, had approached the court before now to com­pel INEC not to recognise the list of candidates forwarded by the party, a prayer it said the court rejected.

The PDP added that the court only granted an interim injunction against the new executive of the party put to­gether by its new leadership in the state.

Disclosing that the party had since complied with the directive, pending resumption of further hearing of the suit, the PDP revealed that the de­termination of the case is “be­ing delayed by the holidays,” adding: “We wish to state categorically that at no point did the court give a specific order to the effect that INEC should not recognise the list of candidates put forward by the party.

“The publication was de­signed to cause confusion among the members of the party in the state and a delib­erate ploy to slow down the preparations towards ensur­ing a successful campaign by the candidates and members of the party.”

The party said the arrow­head of the ploy was manipu­lating the media to project a false assumption, which had not been granted by the court and therefore “challenged the author of this falsehood to produce the judgment grant­ing the said order.”

The PDP said no order could be granted against its candidates, since they had not been joined in any of the suits instituted by those it called the party’s aggressors, adding that the ploy of “agents of the opposition” within its fold to “make the wish of their col­laborators come to reality, all hands should be on deck to ensure a successful campaign and eventual triumph of the PDP candidates at the coming general elections.”