The Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) on Saturday alerted the nation of the alleged plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to disrupt the forthcoming general elections in some states in order to stalemate the polls.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the
Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Kola
Ologbondiyan who revealed this plot to newsmen in Abuja said that sole
reason was to enable the elections to be staggered in the affected
states where the federal might would now be used in favour of the ruling
party.
Ologbondiyan while calling the attention of the National
Peace Committee to take note of the evil machinations of the ruling
party, pointed out that the alleged plot to stalemate elections was the
reason the ruling party was not campaigning round the country as
presently being done by PDP and other serious political parties in the
country.
In particular, the campaign organisation called on the National Peace Committee to take the judicial notice “of the infractions by the APC in Taraba State and speak out in the interest of peace, particularly given the security situation in the North East, especially now that Nigerians know who to hold responsible, should there be a break down of law and order in the state”
According to him, “of particular reference are the activities of APC’s governorship candidate in Taraba State, Sani Abubakar Danladi, who has now resorted to violence having realised that there is absolutely no hope for him and his party in the March 2, 2019 governorship election.
“It is an incontrovertible fact, known to all, that Taraba State is a long established stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that Governor Darius Ishaku has the undiluted backing of the overwhelming majority of the electorate across the state, due to his sterling performance in office.
“Being exasperated and frustrated by the popularity of the PDP and Governor Ishaku, the APC, which is stuck with the most unpopular candidate in the election, is bent at triggering confusion and bloodletting so as to ambush and truncate the electoral process in the state, not minding the human and material damage such portends.”
Ologbondiyan further disclosed that the party “has full information of how the APC is working with enemies of Taraba State to inject confusion and escalate insecurity in the state so that the governorship election will be deferred to enable the federal authorities and security agencies to have the opportunity to perpetrate the type of massive rigging that took place in Ekiti and Osun State governorship elections in 2018 and award victory to the APC.”
According to him, “the APC Governorship candidate has been boasting that he has the backing of the Federal Government and some godfathers in Abuja, who have no stake in the peace, unity and development of Taraba State in this ignoble project
“On Thursday, January 17, 2019, the APC, hiding under the guise of campaign, unleashed mayhem on Wukari, a major town in Taraba State. Right from Gindin Dorowa, about 40 kilometres to Wukari City, thugs recruited by the APC governorship candidate, went on a shooting spree, destroying PDP billboards all the way to Wukari.
“From the Wukari Yam market, APC thugs continued shooting their way into the town as if they were on a mission to conquer the town, while destroying PDP campaign materials including billboards, posters.
“The shooting and unbridling of mayhem continued until they arrived to the city center and close to the Aku Uka Palace where another political party was also holding a rally, just as they did in Karim on December 26, 2018, during which they prevented the PDP senatorial and House of Representatives candidates from campaigning.
“It is important to note that pandemonium broke out when, in the course of the shooting in Wukari, a member of the PDP was killed. At this point a crowd in sympathy to the victim rushed to the scene; panic took over, a vehicle carrying some APC thugs tried to beat a retreat and in the process crashed into another vehicle and caught fire.
“Other vehicles, which wanted to rush out of the scene got trapped and were torched from the fire spreading from the already burning vehicle.
“The PDP invited Nigerians to note that the grand plan by Sani Danladi and the APC is to cause confusion during the campaigns since they have no chance of winning the March 2, election.
“This is the reason APC governorship candidate in Taraba State, Sani Danladi has not signed the peace accord, which was initiated by the Taraba State Police Command and the INEC to ensure peaceful campaigns and election.
“It is instructive to note that the APC in Taraba State has always been known with political thuggery, for which even other governorship aspirants in the APC had openly accused the party.”
