Date: 2013-08-12

Former Chairman of Offa Local Government Council in Kwara State, Prince Saheed Popoola, on Monday alleged plots by the PDP to railroad the KWASIEC into holding fresh election into the council without following the law.

He said the plot is to exclude the opposition from contesting in the poll, thereby making the rerun a walkover for the PDP.

In a statement in Offa, Popoola also dismissed as futile the alleged plot to disqualify him from contesting in the election on the ground that the ACN under which he contested has ceased existence.

The statement reads: "Our attention has been drawn to a meeting Senator Bukola Saraki had with PDP stakeholders including PDP chieftains from Offa at the weekend where they resolved to railroad the KWASIEC into holding a rerun election into Offa LG council any moment from now.

"Whilst we remain confident that the people of Offa will serve out the appropriate punishment to people who see Kwara as their fiefdom and make no pretence about their intention to lord it over all of us, we wish to remind the PDP and of course KWASIEC that the law governing KWASIEC is that a notice of 150 days shall be given for election into local government council. And this is not retroactive! We hope the PDP will bear this in mind as they plot to impose themselves on the people of Offa by all crooked means.

"We also wish to remind them, as regards their futile effort to disqualify me on account of ACN having merged into the new APC and thus ceasing existence, that KWASIEC Law did not say that a party must be 90 days' old before it could field a candidate for any elective post. Since th PDP prides itself as very popular, it should be bold enough to participate under a free and fair atmosphere."