Two days to the general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to arrest some of its stalwarts ahead of the polls.
Those on the list, according to the party, are Senator Bukola Saraki, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Femi Ojudu, Hon Dakuku Peterside, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Senator Sola Adeyeye, Senator Jajere, Senator Serika Hadi, Senator Jide Omoworare, Hon Nathaniel Agunbiade and Hon Bimbo Daramola.
The plot, according to the party’s national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, “is to plant ammunition, PVCs and card reader jammers, which they (PDP) have dubiously acquired, in the residences, offices or vehicles of these APC chieftains. The APC chieftains will then be arrested with fanfare and subjected to trumped-up charges”.
Mohammed, who made the accusation during a press conference yesterday in Lagos, however, urged the electorate to conduct themselves peacefully during the polls and that “irrespective of the conflicting signals from the police, they should not just vote but stay behind to defend their votes”.
LEADERSHIP recall that, last week, APC had also issued a statement raising the alarm that there was a plot to arrest some of its leaders, especially Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up charges.
… ‘Wait after voting to protect your votes’
Addressing journalists further, Mohammed urged voters to ignore the unlawful order from the inspector-general of police urging them to go home after casting their ballots.
He said, “Voters should rather listen to the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who said the electoral law does not state anywhere that voters cannot or should not wait to watch and ensure that their votes are counted.
“We are therefore urging the electorate to make sure they stay behind to protect their votes after casting their ballots, as was the case in 2011.”
.. accuses Jonathan, PDP of massive bribing of voters
Furthermore, the party also accused the President Jonathan-led PDP government of fraud, waste and corruption, alleging it has of late been inducing voters with bribe.
The APC spokesman said: “Never in the history of our country has a president superintended over such a morally-repugnant act as the massive bribing of Nigerians in recent times, especially in the six weeks for which the elections were cunningly postponed.
“We make bold to say that no president has ever encouraged bribery and corruption as President Goodluck Jonathan has done by ferreting public funds into the pockets of a few in the desperation to woo voters.”
According to him, this act of inducing voters amounted to undermining democracy and unbecoming of a democratically-elected leader of any country.
“According to the information in the public domain, an immense amount of money, some as high as $250,000 per head, was given to traditional rulers, youths, entertainers, market women, ethnic militias and artisans.
“If the money being recklessly given away is from the public treasury, the implication is that they want to loot the treasury to such a level that if they lose the elections, the next government will have no money to spend.”
Election postponement gave PDP time for extra defeat – Tinubu
The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday boasted that the party would win the presidential election on Saturday.
He maintained that the six-week postponement of the election was to make the party’s victory more pronounced.
Tinubu made the remark yesterday in Lagos during the 7th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium.
Speaking on the theme, “The People’s Time Has Come: The Common sense Revolution Is Here”, he said: “On the eve of elections last month, February, they postponed the exercise. They claimed security as their
excuse. We know better. For Jonathan, an election held on February 14 would have been an election lost.
“He would have made history he did not intend: our first incumbent president defeated in an election. He would join the club of wealthy leaders who left no legacy for their people. I say here and now that the postponement merely gave him a six-week stay of electoral defeat. That is all he accomplished.”
He added that during the six week interval, the president’s cohorts had hoped to swing public opinion his way, but the way they have acted only estranged the people the more.
“He has exposed himself as a man who would rather wreck democracy than live by it,” he said, noting that the forthcoming general elections will determine the fate of the nation for years to come.
“We have a decision to make. We must decide whether wisdom is better than cunning; if bravery is sounder than bribe; if compassion speaks more than corruption; if patriotism is a more worthy vocation than pillage and if love of the nation and its people can overcome the love of power
and stolen privilege.”
According to Tinubu, Saturday’s pool is an opportunity to the kind of leadership that is more profound and nobler than the present poor governance that Nigerians are made to suffer.
“This is the time to have faith in yourselves and your fellow Nigerians that we can actually realize our hope for change,” he concluded.
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