The Action Congress has threatened that there would not be election in Nigeria if the Independent National Electoral Commission went ahead to disqualify its presidential candidate, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, from contesting the April election.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday, said the resolution was not only that of the AC but that of all Nigerians who desired a free, fair and credible election.
Mohammed warned that any attempt by INEC, acting on orders from the Presidency to illegally bar Abubakar from contesting the election could put the poll in jeopardy.
He said, �We are compelled, in view of the dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional ban being planned by INEC, to warn that there would be no elections in April without Atiku Abubakar.
�This is not just the resolution of our party but that of millions of Nigerians, who desire a free, fair and credible election and the creation of a level playing field for all candidates.�
The party accused the INEC boss, Prof. Maurice Iwu, of seeking to plunge Nigeria into crisis by dancing to the tune of those who would do everything to truncate the forthcoming polls so that they could realise their objective of self-perpetuation in office.
�If Iwu had had any sense of history or propriety, he would have been treading carefully and be well above manipulation in carrying out his duties of organising an election that will not only be acceptable to the Nigerian people but also to the entire world.
�However, in case Iwu chooses to behave like the proverbial dog that was bound for doom hence has ignored the hunter�s calls, we hasten to say that our presidential candidate cannot be disqualified. If the INEC boss is relying on the Constitution, as he was quoted to have said, then he has definitely read the constitution wrongly,� the party added.
AC said Section 137 (1) (i), which Iwu has been clinging to, did not have the President, his deputy, state governors and their deputies in mind, because those who could not be prosecuted, in accordance with Section 308 of the Constitution, could not be indicted.
It added that even when illegally carried out, such indictment could not hold because two courts in Lagos and Abuja had set it aside.