The All Progressives Congress has resolved to challenge the harassment of its members by security officials as well as the involvement of soldiers in the just concluded Ekiti State governorship election.

This was part of decisions reached at the end of the inaugural meeting of the national executive of the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this while reading a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, in Abuja, on Thursday.

He explained that election was a process and as such, events before, during and after it were part of the entire process.

In response, the Peoples Democratic Party said it was shocked by the pronouncement of the opposition party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

He said, “They (APC) have never accepted the outcome of any election that they lost.

“We are shocked by the kind of people who masquerade as democrats. We call on Nigerians to see which party truly stands for the protection of democracy.

“One is a great party which all Nigerians identify with, the other is a party founded on bitterness, tribal and religious interests.

“We have accepted the results of all the elections that we have lost. When the APC won some of them, our candidates were angry but we accepted it. It is left for Nigerians to judge.”

According to the APC, voting on election day alone was not sufficient grounds for people to conclude that an election was credible, free and fair.

The APC noted that the Ekiti governorship election was everything but free, fair and credible because its members were intimidated, harassed, arrested and detained for no just cause.

It also challenged the roles allegedly played by the Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan.

The communiqué partly read: “While voting on election day may not have been characterised by the usual brigandage and violence, we submit that the entire process was everything but free and fair.

“If an integral part of the process was badly tainted as we have clearly and fully demonstrated above, then the entire process cannot but be tainted.

“Voting in Ekiti may have been free of the usual violence or manipulation at the collation centres, but the entire electoral process in the state was neither free, fair, nor credible.