The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan in the South West have hatched a plan to make the March 28th elections in the geo-political zone inconclusive, having
realized that they cannot deliver the zone to the PDP as they have promised.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the
party said the plot was conceived at a meeting held in the Ondo State Government House on March 13th and attended by Governor Olusegun
Mimiko and the Coordinator of the Jonathan Campaign Tokunbo Modupe.
It said those planning to disrupt the elections are working in cahoots
with the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), and they have trained and armed
a number of youths with guns and other weapons, in addition to
providing many of them with military and police uniforms, which we
earlier said were being sewn in the capital of a state in the South
West.
APC said the highly-disruptive and armed protest by the OPC in Lagos
on March 16th was a dress rehearsal for the plan to be executed across
the states in the South-west.
The party also said the PDP has compiled and forwarded to the Police
Anti-Cult Squad the names of APC youths in all the Wards in Ondo State
so they can be arrested and locked up before, during and after the
elections, to give the PDP and its cohorts the free rein to carry out
their nefarious activities.
”As a matter of fact, funds have been provided to the Police
Anti-Cult Squad to expand its detention facility, and work is going on
at the facility as we write. The reason for these actions is that,
despite the massive infusion of illicit funds to bribe individuals and
groups in the South West, the PDP and its agents in the region have
realized that their strategy has backfired and even given the people
more impetus to vote against the ruling party,” it said.
APC therefore called on the security agencies, especially the police
and the State Security Service, to shun partisanship in carrying out
their assigned responsibilities to prevent any individual or group
from disrupting the elections, irrespective of their political
leanings.
”Let’s be clear: In the event that the security agencies fail to
carry out their duties, we will hold them, as well as those behind the
plot to disrupt the elections, totally responsible for any disruption
in the polls. They will also be held responsible for any act of
violence or intimidation against the opposition,” the party warned.
It appealed to its members and supporters across the South West to be
calm but vigilant, and to document all actions aimed at harassing and
intimidating them, as well as all acts of violence and all moves to
disrupt the polls in the geo-political zone.
”The forthcoming elections are being closely watched within and
outside Nigeria. In other words, the eyes of the world are on our
country. Therefore, no one who engages in violence, rigging or
intimidation of voters, to scare them away from the polling booths,
will go scot-free, irrespective of his status,” APC said.
