PDP accuses APC of forcing security agents, INEC to rig polls

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday alleged that the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has launched “a more ferocious plot to ambush the rescheduled elections and foist Muhammadu Buhari on our nation.”At a press conference presided by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP, however, said that the “evil plots will come to naught.”

His words: “Since the postponement of the elections, the Buhari presidency and APC have been breathing down on the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, in a desperate bid to consolidate their control of the operations of the commission and execute their rigging plot.”

PDP claimed that at a meeting held in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday night, attended by key government officials, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) were directed to issue out result sheets to APC agents to falsify and declare results in favour of the party.“Intelligence at our disposal reveals that the INEC chairman has succumbed to back channel bullying by the Buhari presidency and APC to accede to their demand to replace Electoral Officers (EOs) in various critical states with APC agents who will vehemently execute President Buhari’s rigging plans in the February 23 presidential election.

“The PDP also has details of the meeting by Buhari, some northern APC governors and service chiefs, whereupon pressure was mounted on the service chiefs in connection with the APC rigging plans,” it alleged.The opposition party alerted Nigerians that “the INEC chairman has been intimidated with threat of ‘Onnoghen’s treatment’ to accept a list of APC members and agents and post them to serve as EOs in various states, including Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Zamfara, Benue, Sokoto, Lagos, Plateau, Taraba, Borno, Adamawa, Kogi, Delta and Ebonyi”

According to the party, these APC Eos have been briefed to ensure the diversion of sensitive electoral materials from designated polling centres, delay the accreditation process, to frustrate voters’ enthusiasm, compromise the collation process to allocate and announce fictitious results for Buhari and muddle up the process to pave way for result cancellation where it becomes impossible to rig for Buhari.The PDP said it stands with Nigerians in directly rejecting “this latest arm-twisting of security agencies as well as the nefarious plots to use APC members as INEC EOs.