PDP Training Special Squads to Intimidate The Electorate and Rig Elections – APC

APC has accused the ruling PDP of training special armed squads to intimidate the electorate and rig the polls. APC national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who made this claim at a press conference, said the party would resist attempts to manipulate the results of the polls.

He said, “Thugs have been trained in several south-western states, particularly Ondo and Ogun states, to disrupt the coming elections. In Ondo State, training was organized by the PDP new leadership in Ilaje/Okitipupa zone. These thugs, numbering over 300, were given two weeks training in weapons use under a commander/president called Miti.

“They have now been moved in 12 buses to join the Ogun State group from where they will be dispatched to other states in the South West, with arms.

“For the northern part of the country, the plot is to deploy the Special Forces who were trained in Belarus to the liberated territories in the North East, ostensibly to hold the liberated territories but, in reality, to rig the election for the PDP.”

He further alleged that Vice President Namadi Sambo had met with security chiefs in Kaduna “with a request that they must deliver two million votes to the PDP anyhow, with promises of mouth-watering incentives, include cash and promotion.”

Mohammed said as the clock ticks toward the day of election, the party was compelled to alert Nigerians, local and foreign election observers and indeed the international community to the strategy being employed by the Jonathan-led PDP administration to manipulate the elections using what he called the Modified Ekiti Rigging Strategy.

According to him, the plan, like the PDP did in Ekiti, is to ensure that once PDP officials pointed out any APC leader in a particular local government, such leader was either arrested and detained or simply hounded into hiding.

He further stated that “since indications are that the military is no longer willing to be used for such an illegal act, and other security agencies know they will be under the searchlight on election days, those who are averse to a free, fair, credible and violence-free polls have simply come up with the plan to sew military and police uniforms for their party thugs to wear on election day so they can rig the elections for the PDP!

“A large number of uniformed personnel on election day will be those donning fake uniforms and ranks, and their mandate will be to rig for the PDP and terrorize opposition members and supporters.”

He alleged that the PDP had also mobilized ethnic militias across the country – MASSOB in the South East; OPC in the South West and ex-militants in the Niger Delta under the pretext of a N9 billion pipeline security contract.

“The marching orders given to the ethnic militias is to destabilize the election in their respective regions, thus rendering it inconclusive. After all, the PDP knows it cannot win a free, fair and peaceful election. The highly disruptive and armed protest by the OPC in Lagos last Monday was a dress rehearsal for the plot,” the APC image maker asserted.

Mohammed accused the inspector-general of police (IGP) the service chiefs of being part of the plot.
He pointed at the unlawful warning issued by the IGP urging voters to cast their ballot and immediately leave the polling units was part of the grand plot.

“A similar order is expected to be issued by the chief of army staff (COAS) ahead of the election, and the orders are aimed at harassing and intimidating voters as well as ensuring they do not stay around to prevent the PDP’s rigging plans. We urge Nigerians to ignore such unlawful directives which are not grounded in the Electoral Act as pointed out by the INEC chairman.

“Nigerians must not only vote, they must stay behind to protect their votes. Without being disruptive, they should use their phone cameras to document proceedings at the various polling booths, so that no one will tamper with their votes. All they are required to do is to conduct themselves peacefully,” he insisted.

The APC spokesman advised those planning to disrupt or rig the elections and instigate violence to heed the warning signals from the international community, as aptly conveyed by US secretary of state, Mr John Kerry, and British secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Phillip Hammond, that ‘’any person who incites violence at any stage in the electoral process, or who seeks power through unconstitutional means, should be held accountable.” (Leadership)