The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned
President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to
steer clear of all PDP strongholds, particularly the Niger Delta
region, ahead of the March 9 governorship and state assembly elections,
in order to avert
widespread crisis in the country.
PDP’s warning came as the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) raised the alarm over alleged plan by
President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC-led administration to unleash
mayhem on Saturday and return 24 states to the APC at the governorship and Houses
of Assembly elections.
The PDP in a statement Wednesday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party’s
position was predicated on the on-going heavy deployment of
security forces and
armed thugs into PDP strongholds, particularly the
Niger Delta region, with a view to suppress voters and manipulate the
March 9 electoral process in favour of the APC.
He said: “As a result, the APC is desperate to
unleash violence in
oil-rich Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Delta,
Bayelsa, Abia, as well
as Benue, Taraba, Gombe, Sokoto, Enugu, Ebonyi,
Kwara, but these
states and all other strongholds of the PDP,
spanning across our
nation, remain impregnable.”
The main opposition party said it has full
information on various secret locations in Akwa Ibom State, including hotels
and other camps, where the APC has quartered thugs ahead of
Saturday’s elections.
Ologbondiyan noted: “We note that the police have
refused to evacuate these thugs; but let it be known that the people of
Akwa Ibom State
will never allow them to operate.”
“Since the robbery of the PDP's presidential
mandate, which Nigerians are determined to reclaim at the tribunal, the APC
has been jittery over the escalated public support for the PDP not
only to retain our states but also to ensure a sweeping victory for
PDP in APC states
across the country.
“The PDP therefore cautions the APC as well as its
compromised INEC and security officials to bear in mind that
Akwa-Ibom and all Niger Delta states are incontrovertible PDP strongholds;
that the APC do not have any genuine followership in these states and
that anybody attempting or supporting any forceful takeover of any PDP
stronghold should be aware that he or she is doing so at his or her own peril,” he warned.
The party advised the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo
and APC National
Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, to perish APC thought
of using thugs to muscle the Akwa Ibom governorship and state assembly
elections, as the people have been fully rallied for a firm
resistance on Saturday.
It said Nigerians should note how Osinbajo, on
Tuesday, at a town hall
meeting in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, boasted that
himself and Oshiomhole would ensure that the APC will never be defeated
and how thugs, loaded in over 50 buses, who confessed to have been
contracted by Oshiomhole, were later intercepted on their way from Edo State
to Akwa-Ibom to
cause mayhem during Saturday’s election.
The PDP warned that Nigerians are still livid over
the rigging of the February 23 presidential election, which it
claimed, was clearly won by Atiku Abubakar, stating that any further attempt
to test their collective will on March 9 is capable of sparking
off a huge civil
restiveness across the nation.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of United Political
Parties (CUPP) has raised the alarm over alleged plan by President Buhari and
his APC-led administration to unleash mayhem on Saturday and
return 24 states to the APC at the governorship and houses of assembly
elections.
The opposition parties saidits alarm was predicated
on the fact that they have intercepted part of the secret wireless
signal of deployment of ‘Police Mobile Squads to States of Interest’.
In a statement issued by CUPP spokesperson, Ikenga
Ugochinyere, the coalition alleged that from the signal intercepted, Nasarawa,
Akwa
Ibom, Sokoto, Anambra, Rivers, Taraba, Abia, Gombe
and Delta States
are to be flooded with Mobile Police officers from
various parts of
the country specifically for the purpose of helping
the APC rig the
elections and return the states to the APC.
"Zamfara, Borno, Yobe etc which until a couple
of days ago witnessed
attacks and killings did not get extra deployment
of security.
Likewise, Kaduna, Katsina, and Plateau where
killings and reprisal
killings have occurred since the completion of the
presidential polls
did not merit extra security deployment rather
hitherto peaceful
states with no reported threats are getting massive
security
deployments," CUPP said.
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