PDP, APC trade accusations on INEC attacks

THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have traded accusations over the attacks on Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, offices nationwide.

While the PDP raised the alarm over what it described as the discovery of an orchestrated plot by the ruling APC, to instigate violence in order to derail the 2023 general elections, the APC called on security agencies to invite PDP leaders for questioning.

National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, who addressed newsmen, yesterday, in Abuja,  said: “We have called you today to alert Nigerians and the International Community of plots by enemies of democracy to frustrate and ultimately disrupt the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

“We alert Nigerians that in compliance with the directive by the Presidential Candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to his party members to deploy violence and snatch power in the 2023 general elections, the APC having realised that it has been rejected, has commenced its violent attacks to frustrate the conduct of the elections.

“Nigerians can recall how the deflated and desperate Asiwaju Tinubu, in a closed-door meeting in London earlier this month, declared to his members that ‘political power is not going to be served in a restaurant, it is not served a la carte.’

“It is what we are doing; It is being determined; you do it at all cost; fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it.”

“In response to this directive, APC leaders and members have now activated plots to derail the electoral process through orchestrated violent attacks in various states of the country aimed to trigger a nationwide security emergency situation, instil fear and make it appear inconducive to conduct elections in the country.

“Part of the plot is the current attacks on the facilities of INEC in various parts of the country as witnessed in Ogun, Osun and Imo states, where sections critical to the conduct of elections particularly those connected to the collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were targeted and destroyed.

“There were plans by the APC to orchestrate attacks in other states particularly: Kogi and Delta; some States of the South East as well as parts of the North with the view to subverting the electoral process in as many States as possible.

“The same intelligence report revealed -that the attack on INEC facilities is designed to prevent newly registered voters from collecting their PVCs, destroy the PVC’s, so that they will not be available for collection in INEC offices, and thirdly, destroy INEC equipment and cripple its capacity to conduct elections.

“The APC has introduced a very disturbing dimension of “purchasing” PVCs from unsuspecting Nigerians through monetary inducement masquerading as empowerment programmes.

“We are not surprised at the resort to violence by Asiwaju Tinubu and the APC, because it is a clear acceptance of electoral defeat, which apparently accounts for the APC’s Presidential Candidate’s decision to boycott the signing of the National Peace Accord by Presidential Candidates in the 2023 elections.

“It is apparent and disturbing that the APC Presidential Candidate has not issued any caution against the many acts of violence linked to members of his party.

“His body language and comments suggest the condoning of the ongoing violence on our electoral process.

“Of course, the London meeting where Asiwaju Tinubu directed his party members to unleash violence on Nigerians was a closed-door event which inadvertently leaked to the public.

“The aim of the APC was to hit our nation with violence and mislead security agencies to direct their investigation on criminal elements and social restiveness, instead of the real culprit, the APC.

Invite PDP leaders for questioning, APC tells security agencies

Reacting, however, the APC, has asked security agencies to invite PDP leaders for questioning.

Minister of State, Labour and Employment and Chief Spokesperson of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council PCC, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, gave the charge in a statement, yesterday.

Keyamo said: “We note with concern the incoherent and convoluted statement by the ethically-challenged the PDP, yet again raising alarm about certain plots to incite violence and derail the 2023 polls and having ‘credible information’ as to those unleashing violence in certain parts of the country.

“This statement, coming just barely 48 hours after one of its former officials was convicted by a court of law over illegal acts committed during an election over which the PDP government presided is just a pointer to the lowest level of moral debauchery to which the PDP has sunk. It operates without an iota of shame or respect for the Nigerian people. Instead of continuous apologies for those grievous acts of election rigging, money-laundering and other electoral malpractices, it continues to pontificate.

“Based on its latest statement about having ‘credible information’ about certain individuals plotting to derail the 2023 elections, including acts of arson already perpetrated on the facilities of INEC, we, therefore, call on the law-enforcement agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite the PDP leaders for immediate questioning”.

“The PDP must provide information regarding the place and time such a meeting took place and those in attendance.

“The PDP must provide the identities of those who committed these acts of arson on the facilities of INEC, and the information must also include the identity of those who sponsored these individuals (if any).

“We suspect that the latest alarm by the PDP is one of a long list of diversionary measures adopted by the party to deflect attention from its crumbling edifice. Just yesterday, the major leaders of the PDP in Katsina State led by a former Katsina State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Shema, and 10 out of the 14-member working committee of the PDP boycotted the party’s rally in the state and today, they issue this statement to deflect attention from that disaster.

“We also state that this gimmick is nothing but crying wolf when there is none. We have said in an earlier statement on this issue some weeks ago that this is the same unnecessary scare-mongering tactics and crass vituperations they employed and engaged in before the 2019 election which led to their crushing defeat.”

(Vanguard)