The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic<\/p>\n
Party of being mortally afraid of the forthcoming elections and thus
\ninvolved in subterranean moves to foist an interim government on Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The party also accused the PDP of sponsoring the circulation of leaflets
\nurging the people of Gombe to stay away from the polling booths on
\nelection days or they will be in trouble.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity
\nSecretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it cannot put anything
\nbeyond the PDP and the Jonathan administration, because of their
\ndesperation to ensure that the general elections do not hold, at all
\ncosts.<\/p>\n
It said even the attack on Gombe on Saturday was suspect, wondering how
\nBoko Haram insurgents will drive on the highway from Maiduguri to Gombe in
\na convoy of many vehicles without being spotted or stopped at the myriad
\nof military checkpoints dotting the area.<\/p>\n
APC said it is curious that the Boko Haram terrorists, who have never
\nmentioned the elections in their regular videos on YouTube, have suddenly
\nstarted campaigning against the conduct of elections.<\/p>\n
The party also noted that the local government elections in Yobe, one of
\nthe hotbeds of the Boko Haram insurgency, went without any incident in
\n2013, indicating there has not been a systematic campaign by the
\ninsurgents to attack voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the strategy of the PDP and the Jonathan administration is to
\ndepopulate perceived opposition strongholds through all sorts of dangerous
\nmeasures, and this scaremongering, supposedly by Boko Haram, fits into
\nthat strategy. They are also the unseen hands behind the advertisement by
\nfaceless groups urging Muslims to vote for Muslim candidates. It is in
\nline with their exploitation of religious and ethnic fault lines to divide
\nNigerians,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n
APC said the alarm raised by Mike Omeri, the Coordinator of the National
\nInformation Centre, that some female suicide bombers may strike at polling
\nunits during the elections, also fits into the PDP\/Jonathan
\nAdministration\u2019s opposition stronghold depopulation strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now very clear to Nigerians that the PDP-led federal government
\ndoes not want the forthcoming elections to hold, because it is guaranteed
\na shellacking. First the government sponsored a campaign to postpone the
\nelections because of low PVC distribution. When they realized the number
\nof PVCs collected was growing and that their argument might no longer be
\ntenable, they suddenly used security as an alibi, abandoning their earlier
\npush for the election shift on the basis of low PVC distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter they succeeded in forcing the postponement, they launched another
\ncampaign for the PVCs and the Card Readers to be jettisoned in favour of
\nTVCs, because that will allow them to rig if indeed the elections proceed
\nin spite of them. Those campaigning against the use of PVCs and Card
\nReaders have forgotten that Ghana successfully used the same technology in
\nits last elections, and that it is not rocket science,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n
It also accused the PDP federal government of exhibiting the traits of
\nelections phobia by continuing to clandestinely campaign for an interim
\ngovernment, even though the Attorney-General of the Federation and
\nMinister of Justice has publicly denied such moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an open secret that as we write this statement, their emissary is
\ntouring the north meeting with Emirs and others to push for an interim
\ngovernment. It has also been revealed how they plan to use the National
\nAssembly to seek tenure elongation. Never before has a sitting government
\nbeen this desperate to avoid elections. This election phobia by a sitting
\ngovernment is a first in contemporary history,\u201d APC said.<\/p>\n
The party urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to plunge Nigeria into
\ncrisis or give the country the Gbagbo treatment, all in pursuit of
\npersonal interest at the expense of national interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plot that landed Ivory Coast under Laurent Gbagbo in hot water, and
\nfor which Gbagbo is currently cooling his heels in a holding cell at the
\nInternational Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, was not as elaborate as
\nthat being pushed by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration. That is why
\nwe are urging them to tread softly and save Nigeria from crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know Nigerians have seen through the games being played by the PDP and
\nthe Jonathan Administration. Nigerians and the entire world know those who
\nare behind the election postponement, the myriad of court cases seeking to
\ndisqualify our presidential candidate, the ongoing efforts to depopulate
\nopposition strongholds, the devilish advertisements seeking to use
\nethnicity and religion to divide Nigerians, the campaign to jettison the
\nPVCs and Card Readers in favour of TVCs as well as the tenure elongation
\nand interim government options<\/p>\n
\u201dThat is why we are calling on all lovers of democracy to be vigilant in
\nthe run-up to the rescheduled polls, and for them to insist that nothing
\nbut the holding of the elections will be acceptable to Nigerians,\u201d it
\nsaid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party of being mortally afraid of the forthcoming elections and thus involved in subterranean moves to foist an interim government…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n