The All Progressives Congress
(APC) yesterday alleged a grand plan by the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) to force its way through in today’s governorship
election in Lagos State.
The PDP plan, according to
the APC,includes gun running,use of fake result sheets, outright bribing
of voters and deployment of the police to intimidate and harass its top
members.
Controversial Assistant
Inspector General of Police Joseph Mbu is said to be in charge of the
police operation .
Addressing reporters in Lagos,the
National Publicity Secretary of the APC,Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
said President Goodluck Jonathan flew into town on Thursday
with “ a war chest of 10 billion naira specifically for the Lagos
elections.”
Foot soldiers of the PDP are said
to be under instruction to “storm polling units in areas where the
APC is strong either to disrupt voting by attacking voters or simply carry away
voting materials,” while a PDP point man “has been driving around
designated pick-up points to drop fake NYSC and military uniforms, guns and
cash.”
“In a clandestine and brazen
operation in Lagos, this point man and his team have also added the
distribution of fake result sheets to PDP agents,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said further:“At a
popular Maryland vendor stand, which is one of the muster points for the PDP
thugs, three big bags containing NYSC polo shirts, as well as fake Police
and Army uniforms, were handed over to some PDP thugs by the agents.
“Then at 5:30 am this morning
(yesterday), at exactly the same location, the vendor stand in Maryland close
to Mobil Filing station, two white Hilux trucks pulled up and dropped 60 medium
size rectangular cartons.
“On hand were the same men who
collected the bags of fake NYSC t-shirts some days back. Their
conversation, which took place in the Yoruba language, revealed a lot. The four
men asked from the person, delivering the cartons ‘owo nko’ (where is the
money). The man in the car said both the money and the guns were inside the
box. He also explained to the four men that later in the evening of today
(yesterday), the four men should return to the same point to collect fake
result sheets from Bajulaiye (the hub of printing in Lagos) that will be wrapped
up in newspapers and delivered just like the way newspapers are delivered.
“The men who collected the
guns, fake uniforms and result sheets are those designated to storm polling
units tomorrow. They will also instigate violence across the state, with a view
to scaring away voters, especially in APC strongholds.
“The PDP has turned today’s
elections into a do-or-die affair. The plan is to use thugs and militants who
have also been imported into the state to intimidate voters, snatch ballot
boxes and provide cover for the PDP to announce false results tomorrow. Fake
ballot papers as well as result sheets are already being issued to the PDP.”
Alhaji Mohammed said
that President Jonathan,soon after his arrival in Lagos on Thursday
to “oversee the PDP’s rigging plans,” met with Minister of
State for Foreign Affairs, Musiliu Obanikoro,PDP governorship candidate in the
state,Mr. Jimi Agbaje, and the OPC factional leader, Gani Adams, in the
presence of AIG Mbu.
He said the meeting perfected
plans to rig the election after the PDP chieftains complained that the state
Police Commissioner Kayode Aderanti refused to co-operate with
them.
The CP was thus sidelined and Mbu
given the go-ahead to take charge of the security aspect of the elections by
allowing the PDP to announce fake election results .
“Acting on Jonathan’s
directive, Mbu stormed the Lagos Police HQ today (yesterday) and took
over the CP’s office, claiming he is now in charge of the election in Lagos.
“Meanwhile, the IG of Police,
Suleiman Abba, had posted the DIG in charge of training in Abuja, Mr Argungu,
to oversee the election in Lagos. Mbu had been posted to take charge of affairs
in Ogun State. The President by his directive has overridden the directives of
the IG without his knowledge,” the APC spokesman said.
“The PDP is attempting to use Mbu
and the GOC – who is Jonathan’s relation – to force a false result on the REC.
“It is interesting that despite their failure, in view of the dollar rain that
fell on the South-west, to capture the region, they have not relented in
wasting public funds to swing the outcome of elections,” he pointed out.
“Nigerians have shown that
they cannot be swayed by bribery. If money were to be the determming factor,
the PDP would not have lost the presidential elections. Just as they failed on
March 28, they will fail again tomorrow (today).”
Besides, Alhaji Mohammed
said key leaders of the APC have been targeted for arrest, harassment and
intimidation as part of measures to destabilize the party today, while
PDP point men have been designated to invade the residences of the
leaders, starting from last night.
He said: “Having milked its cash
cow to death on March 28, the PDP has decided that it would grab new cash cows.
Such cash cows are economically-viable states like Lagos and oil producing
states like Rivers.
“The PDP has vowed not to lose
any of such states, hence the desperate acts we have enumerated above. They do
not care about the votes of the people, and are not interested in counting
votes or making them count. All they want is to capture any state that catches
their fancy.”
The party urged its members
and supporters not to be intimidated, but be “ extra vigilant and to document
all cases of voter harassment and intimidation as well as election malfeasance.”
Local and international
observers were told to “pay a very close attention to the conduct of the
elections in Lagos and River states.”
Earlier yesterday,Alhai Mohammed
in a statement warned that “the people will resist any
attempt to rob them of their votes.”
He spoke of a PDP rigging machine
headed by President Jonathan to rig the Lagos elections, and drew attention to
“ the airlifting from Abuja to Lagos of a Black Kia Mohave SUV, with the
number plate DHQ 340 which was packed with election materials (especially
result sheets).”
The APC spokesman said that the
SUV “will be free to move around (because of its number plate)
despite the restriction on the vehicular movement during the elections.
”It is sad that the same
President, who conceded defeat in the presidential election and then followed
up with a speech in which he said he would like his ‘legacy’ of free and fair
elections to endure,is the one who is presiding over a desperate move to steal
the people’s votes.
”How can President Jonathan’s
‘legacy’ endure when one of his last acts in office is a seeming vengeance
mission to lead his party to capture Lagos because the PDP sees the state as a
cash cow that they can milk to death with the party’s gravy train at the
federal level having derailed?” the party queried.
”In their desperation over the
Lagos elections, they have shamelessly divided the people along ethnic,
religious and regional lines, thus setting the stage for the condemnable hate
speeches to which they have in turn latched on to further whip up primordial
sentiments.”
The APC advised the President to
desist from any vengeance mission that will only rubbish whatever is left
of “his so-called legacy of free and fair elections.”
It urged all APC members and
supporters, and indeed all the good people of Lagos, to be extra vigilant today
to “ thwart the evil machinations of the fallen behemoth called the PDP.”
Source: The Nation
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