NEWS ENTERTAIMENT: APC Alleges Plot to Disrupt Tomorrow’s Polls in South-west

APC Alleges Plot to Disrupt Tomorrow’s Polls in South-west

10 Apr 2015

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Alhaji Lai Mohammed

PDP: APC jittery over imminent defeat
Chuks Okocha and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abujaâ€¨
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted the security agencies to the alleged moves to disrupt tomorrow’s governorship and House of Assembly elections in the entire South-west region by instigating widespread violence.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, had already met with the thugs, who had been trained specifically for the purpose of disrupting the elections, at Oshodi-Isolo in Lagos and Iro in Akure South Local Government Area giving the group of thugs at each location N350 million for their “devilish” assignments.

‘’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 shellacking he received from the electorate in the region in general and in Ondo State in particular during the March 28 presidential election.

‘’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. There is also the report circulating in Ondo State in particular that the governor has deployed thugs to every polling unit to cut off the hands of anyone who is suspected to have voted for the APC during the elections.

‘’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,’’ it said. APC said the thugs have already started unleashing violence, killing one person at a rally in Igbara-Oke in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday ‘’Since his embarrassing loss at the March 28 elections, Mimiko has almost become maniacal, hence his resort to the training and arming of thugs, many of whom will don fake police and army uniforms to disrupt Saturday’s elections throughout the South-west and especially in Ondo State.

‘’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 make sure they document all cases of brigandage and rigging across the region, while also alerting local and international observers to pay a close attention to the conduct of the elections in the region, as well as in other flash points like Rivers State on Saturday.

In its reaction, the PDP dismissed as frivolous, APC’s allegation of plots to disrupt the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the South-west, saying the APC was merely crying wolf for fear of imminent defeat at the polls.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a response yesterday said 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 on Saturday.

“It is clear to all that the APC has become hysteric over the soaring popularity of the PDP in the South-west states, especially Lagos where the people are determined to vote for the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, who has proven to be better than his APC counterpart.
‘’This latest false alert is in continuation of APC’s desperation which made it to drag the revered traditional institution to rain death threats on people ostensibly to sway the voters,” the statement said.

The party however, said such antics would not save the APC in the zone as voters in Lagos and other South-west states have already made up their minds in support of the PDP

It therefore charged its members and supporters in the region, especially in Lagos not to be deterred but completely disregard APC’s gimmicks and come out in large numbers to vote for PDP candidates in the elections.