Mr Adams Oshiomhole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National
Chairman, has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not ready to
win elections through legitimate votes, but through illegally procured
votes and thuggery.
Adams Oshiomhole |
He stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a news conference while
reacting to a critical statement made by Atiku Abubakar, the PDP
Presidential Candidate on President Muhammadu Buhari’s riot act to thugs
and ballot box snatchers.
President Buhari at the APC expanded National Caucus meeting on
Monday, warned that any politician that sponsored thugs or ballot box
snatchers, would be dealt with by security operatives.
The President said that security operatives have been instructed to deal with such persons.
Oshiomhole said no responsible candidate or individual should find
fault in the President’s directive, adding that it is only candidates
who rely on thuggery that would fault it.
“Atiku has called on the President to retract his instruction to
security agencies regarding violence, ballot box thieves, and other
electoral malpractices.
“The question is how such instruction disturbs anyone that is truly
interested in free, fair and credible elections,” Oshiomhole said and
described PDP and Atiku’s reactions as shameful.
Oshiomhole said the APC was not surprised because PDP has marshalled plans to get to power by all means possible.
The APC national chairman said that the option of one man one vote is not on PDP’s table.
He said Atiku by his statement has admitted that he is not popular
by recently claiming that he had two geopolitical zones while the APC
has four other geopolitical zones.
Oshiomhole stressed that Atiku and the PDP should prepare for the shock of their lives on the election day.
“The South South and South East are not oblivious of the
unprecedented developmental achievements recorded in the zones under the
President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration,”he said.
This contrasts with PDP’s wasted years in government.
He maintained that the good people of the South-South, South-East and
all the geopolitical zones would speak through their legitimate votes,
not the procured ballots planned by the PDP.
Oshiomhole noted that in the aftermath of the configured card readers
recently recovered from PDP agents in some states, its presidential
candidate, Atiku, had gone to town with face-saving conspiracies that
the APC had imported slow-working card readers from China.
He said Atiku claimed that the card readers would be deployed to
the South-South and South-East which Atiku considers his stronghold.
Oshiomhole wondered how Atiku got to know where the card readers were
made, if he does not have informants in the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).
He debunked allegations by Atiku that the APC planned to shut down communication network on election days.
Oshiomhole said it was illogical that a party that was in a contest
with clear superior numerical support would shut down communication on
election day, as this would not only affect the PDP.
He recalled that the APC had earlier reported the PDP’s plot before
last Saturday’s postponed elections by the INEC national chairman.
“The recent arrest of several armed PDP political thugs and recovery
of INEC card readers and arms from PDP agents in some states point
directly to the PDP’s plan as revealed by the security reports,”
Oshiomhole said.
PDP’s illegal plot requires improved surveillance by security
agencies, particularly the Department of State Services (DSS), Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and allied agencies, Oshiomhole
suggested.
He urged the agencies to check illicit financial flows and movement in the PDP camp in the run-up to the general elections.
Oshiomhole also said that following the postponement of the
elections, there was need for INEC to identify and change its officers
who have now, beyond doubt, become partisan and are actively working
for partisan interest.
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