The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the governing
All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency of sabotaging
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in alleged
orchestrated plot to engineer a staggered presidential
election.
This, the main opposition party said, was contrary the
“simulated” stance by the Presidency and the national chairman of
the APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole in condemning the postponement of the
February 16 elections.
In a statement Sunday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola
Ologbondiyan, the party recalled its ceaseless protests against the
continued retention of Mrs Amina Zakari at a strategic post in
INEC.
The PDP reiterated its position that Mrs Zakari is a relation of
President Muhammadu Buhari who is seeking re-election on the
platform of the APC.
The statement said, “We have been reliably informed that the
same Amina Zakari and another high-ranking INEC commissioner played
a pivotal role in assisting the APC and Buhari Presidency in
sabotaging the operations of INEC and scuttling the February 16
elections.
“The reason for this is that President Buhari is determined to
have a staggered election where he can use security agencies to
subvert the will of the people at the polls.
“These APC elements in INEC engineered actions that affected the
distribution and delivery of INEC sensitive materials to designated
locations, thereby frustrating the electoral process.
“We also have details of how a hired team of data hackers
corrupted the voters register, with a view to causing mass
confusion and voters suppression on election day.
“Nigerians would have been shocked that many registered voters
in possession of their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) would have
arrived their polling centres on election day, only to discover to
their amazement that their names had disappeared from the register
in their units”.
The PDP said intelligence at its disposal further detailed how
agents of the Buhari Presidency allegedly infiltrated the
distribution system and ensured that sensitive election materials
did not arrive at the designated locations; with the view to
stalling elections in several states and paving way for a staggered
election.
“This is in addition to deliberate swapping of sensitive
election materials between different states and local governments
so as to muddle up the process and stall election in affected
areas. In some of states like Edo, sensitive election materials did
not arrive at their designated points on APC interruption.
“The PDP urges Nigerians to continue to be alert in resisting
the APC and the Buhari Presidency in their plot to sabotage our
elections.
“Our promise to Nigerians is that we will continue to stand with
the people in exposing APC’s rigging plots and stopping them from
creating more havoc and destruction of our democratic process.
“We therefore call on President Buhari to save himself from
further disgrace, as the signpost of enemy of democracy, by
ensuring that his cabal and their ilk in APC cease forthwith from
tampering with our electoral process”, the PDP added.