Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has raised the alarm that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has perfected plans to rig the December 5 governorship election in the South-South state.
The party said on Tuesday that some of the strategies to be used were already being put in place while others have been concluded waiting for execution at the election.
At a press conference in Yenagoa, the state capital, Director of Publicity of the Restoration Campaign Organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, said based on its intelligence network, PDP had unearthed such plans and strategies the APC hope to use to rig the election.
Obuebite alleged that APC was making serious efforts to infiltrate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials both at the state and national levels to manipulate the outcome of the election.
According to him, APC had made overtures to the Bayelsa State INEC officials to give its leaders authentic result sheets during the election which will then be used to rig the election but that it was rebuffed.
He said this was why APC leaders had been complaining of lack of co-operation from the state INEC and asked “what manner of co-operation do they want from INEC in Bayelsa State?
He, however, said in spite of this, APC leaders were not relenting as he claimed they were still mounting pressure on INEC officials both at the state and national levels with a view of compromising their positions and achieve the objective of rigging the election.
“Of course rigging an election can only be possible with the connivance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and we can say without any fear of contradiction that a lot of efforts have been made by the APC leadership in Bayelsa State to infiltrate INEC at both state and national level to ultimately rig the election.
“In this aspect of the ignoble plot, these officials, if they succumb to the on-going pressure being mounted on them, will be asked to distribute fake result sheets on the day of election while withholding the original copies to execute the rigging. This is a fact we came across through our intelligence network which we must emphasize is very credible”, he said.
Besides, Obuebite accused APC of cloning and buying up Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) which, he said, would be used to distort the outcome of the election by falsifying results of the card reader as well as compromising the card readers that would be sent to PDP strongholds throughout the state.
He further alleged that APC leadership was working in collaboration with two Northern governors (whose names were not mentioned) and some important elements in the Presidency to use the Army and Police to rig the election just as he said APC has already sewn army and police uniforms for recruited thugs to wear on election day to intimidate voters and hijack electoral materials.
“To ensure the success of this plan, we can also confirm to you that already, APC has sewn both Police and Army uniforms to be given to APC thugs on election day to enable them hijack electoral materials and intimidate voters at polling units purporting to be soldiers and policemen on duty but they arefake”.
The party, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari not only to investigate its claims but also call to order those who may be involved in the alleged plot. Similar pleas were also made to the leadership of the respective institutions accused in the rigging plot to take a cue from President Buhari, whose integrity and determination to have a clean election, it said, was not in doubt.
“We want to state again that while these plans are afoot, we trust that President Muhammadu Buhari will never allow such rape of democracy and hopefully the leadership of the aforementioned institutions that will be charged with the responsibility of supervising the election will also take cue from Mr. President by allowing the democratic process to prevail without interference. This is the least expected as a key element of change in our body politic. We have had enough of bloodshed on account of election manipulation and it is high time we moved ahead in our democratization advancement in this country. Enough is now enough”, Obuebite stated.
However, PDP warned that any manipulation of the election will not only be resisted but that it may not vouch for the action the people will take as it called for a free, fair and credible election.
”In the event of any manipulation which subverts the democratic process and will of the good people of Bayelsa State, we want to state clearly that such will not be tolerated because it is unacceptable. In the same vein, we should state too that we cannot vouch for the people in how they will react to such situation but certainly their reaction will be so explosive that the riggers will not find anywhere comfortable to live in the whole of Bayelsa State. The people’s revolt will be unpredictable and why this warning is timely. We must now give peace a chance by ensuring the election is free, fair and credible. The Ijaw nation and the good people of Bayelsa State are resolute on where they want to be in the election of December 5 and they know their leaders”.
