Barely a day to the governorship and houses of assembly elections, the two major parties, All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have engaged in a war of words, trading accusations over alleged plans to disrupt and rig the elections.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, however assured on the preparedness of the police to ensure hitch-free elections even as he approved the immediate redeployment of senior police officers to the states.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, also warned voters in tomorrow’s elections against going to polling units without genuine Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, accusing a governor of a North Central state of directing voters to disregard PVCs.
The APC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretaty, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alerted the security agencies to alleged moves being made Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State to disrupt tomorrow’s elections in the South-West by instigating widespread violence.
The party said the governor has already met with the thugs, who have been trained specifically for the purpose of disrupting the elections, at Akure and Iro in Akure South Local Government Area, giving the group of thugs at each location N350 million for their devilish assignments.
According to the party, “the strategy is to deploy these thugs to various parts of the South-West with the express instruction to violently disrupt elections through sporadic shootings and stealing of ballot boxes.
“This is the governor’s answer to the massive defeat he received from the electorate in the region in general and in Ondo State in particular during the March 28 presidential elections.
“The fear of the thugs have already sent many APC leaders, who have been targeted for attack, scampering for safety. While some have gone underground, others have relocated either from Ondo State or from the region entirely.
“These developments do not augur well for a free, fair and peaceful elections, hence the need for security agents to face the challenge posed by the hired thugs squarely.”
APC said the thugs had already started unleashing violence, killing one person at a rally in Igbara-Oke in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday
“It is important to alert the sponsors of terror and electoral malfeasance that whether or not they have immunity from prosecution, ultimately they will be made to face the full wrath of the law to account for their unbridled penchant for violence,” the party warned.
It called on all APC members and supporters to be vigilant and to document all cases of brigandage and rigging across the region, while also alerting local and international observers to pay close attention to the conduct of the elections in the region, as well as in other flash points like Rivers State, on Saturday.
Responding to APC’s allegations, the national leadership of the PDP said the APC was already jittery of what it described as imminent defeat.
The PDP also dismissed as frivolous, APC’s allegation of plots to disrupt the elections in the South-West, adding that the APC was merely crying wolf for fear of defeat at the polls.
In a statement signed, yesterday, by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh, the PDP stressed that the false alert by the APC was part of its plot to heighten tension in the zone and scare away voters from exercising their franchise, having realised that the wind of change blowing in the region will sweep them away tomorrow.
Metuh said: “This latest false alert is in continuation of APC’s desperation which made it drag the revered traditional institution to rain death threats on people ostensibly to sway the voters.”
According to PDP, such antics would not save the APC in the zone. It, therefore, urged its members and supporters in the region, especially in Lagos, not to be deterred but completely disregard APC’s gimmicks. – Vanguard.
