The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) on Thursday alleged that it was in possession of credible evidence that the vaults of
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been turned into All
Progressives Congress (APC) warehouse where illicit funds for vote buying have
been warehoused and moved to local banks and houses of party chieftains.
The coalition also claimed that it reliably gathered that
agents of the federal government had concluded plans to clamp down on media houses
and their reporters on election day.
In a statement issued by CUPP spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere,
the coalition stated that the leadership of the CBN had directed all bank managers
in all 36 states of the federation to mop up cash available effective from
February 13.
According to him, "CBN is working for the outgoing APC
government and has given directives that the money mopped up should be issued
only to APC chieftains, and the reason for this is for the money to be released
for vote-buying on election day by the members of the APC who clearly intend to
bribe the citizens by offering them money for their unfit candidate."
The opposition parties said they have it on good authority
that the members of the APC are allegedly working with some security agents to
engage in massive arm theft and destruction of electoral materials on February
16, using firearms and explosives.
“The unethical security agents,” they alleged, “had
been instructed by the
APC cohorts to cart away in bags, electoral
materials and subsequently burn the materials especially in Kwara, Rivers,
Kano, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, and Zamfara States.
"They want to use explosives and armed security
forces (SARS) to burn down election materials, kidnap all returning officers
and hijack all election materials as well as steal card readers to shift
election or make election inconclusive, write fake results and weaken
opposition base in Rivers State, Kwara Central, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Kano,
Adamawa, Abia and 10 other states."
The coalition lamented that the APC government is on rampage already,
allegedly burning down INEC storage facilities in states which they know they
will clearly lose.
"They did it in Anambra State on Tuesday and they are
aiming to do more in Rivers, Kwara and Adamawa States. The three major reasons
why they want to do this is to weaken the opposition's strength in those
states, to make elections in the affected areas inconclusive so as to impose
their unscrupulous security agents on opposition leaders in order for the
election to be shifted for a rerun and to rig it like they did in Osun and
Ekiti States.
"From the APC campaigns, it's clear that the
president has time and time again embarrassed the party and shown that he's
going to lose in a free and fair contest to the coalition's consensus
candidate, Atiku Abubakar,” he said.
CUPP therefore appealed to the United States of
America and United Kingdom to take notes of the instigators of violence and
continue to fulfill their promise of visa ban punishment for the perpetrators,
which according to it, will also serve as a warning to their already recruited
supporters and potential recruits.
"We call on the security agents working with APC
government to remember the promise they made when they took an oath to serve
and protect the lives of citizens and their properties, and desist from further
causing any damage and harm to innocent citizens or disrupting the polls,” the
group said.
Meanwhile, CUPP has revealed that it reliably gathered that
agents of the federal government had concluded plans to clamp down on media houses
and their reporters on Saturday.
In a statement, CUPP claimed that the nefarious act
was being orchestrated to ensure that the media houses do not have the opportunity
of informing Nigerians on the various irregularities being allegedly planned
for the presidential and National Assembly elections in favour of candidates of
the APC across the country.
Top of the list of media organisations listed for
attack, CUPP alleged, are the Africa Independent Television (AIT), Silverbird Television,
Arise Television, Raypower FM and 15 other radio stations.
"The plan is to jam and destroy transmitting
equipment of these media
organisations on election day. The strategy also
include indiscriminate arrest and detention of reporters and cameramen of these
stations while their working tools will be confiscated and
destroyed.
"The opposition parties have credible
information on the move by the
APC working through the NSA and the elder brother of
Governor El Rufai named Bashir El Rufai who is the Director of IHS Towers, a
major base station services provider for telecom companies to disconnect the service
providers in targeted areas under the guise of debt recovery for unpaid
services rendered to the telecommunication companies,” CUPP alleged.
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