March 9: APC plotting to unleash military in South-South—PDP

Ahead of the March 9 governorship elections, the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP has described illegal the alleged occupation
and provocative besiegement of PDP states in the South South,
namely Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River states by
the military.

he party noted that the “illegal operation is to further
militarize the South South zone, use soldiers to suppress voters
and re-enact the massive rigging of polls for the APC, as was done
in the widely discredited February 23 Presidential election.”

Addressing a world press conference in Abuja Thursday, National
Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP warned
of grave consequences, stressing that “those who sow the wind
should also be ready to reap the whirlwind.”

The statement continued: “It is clear that after using military
to unleash violence, alter results and muscle out fabricated 25
percent ballot for President Muhammadu Buhari across the South
South states and other PDP strongholds, the APC now wants to use
the military to fight our governors, suppress our members and
forcefully take over our states.

“Nigerians already know how APC leaders from the South South are
going around boasting that the military will use violence to give
them governorship election triumph, the same way it did during the
Presidential election, where innocent Nigerians were brutalized and
murdered.

“Nigerians are witnesses to how 13 persons were murdered in
Akuku-Toru Local Government in Rivers state, in addition to those
killed in Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Emohua Local Government
Areas during the Presidential election.

“In Brass, East Senatorial district of Bayelsa state, it was a
war situation as the military took over the electoral process and
even declared winners. Soldiers were deployed to the remotest
villages where the voters were suppressed and results altered in
favour of President Buhari.

“Now that it is clear to all that the 2019 election is not
between the PDP and the APC, but a war between the state apparatus
of power and the PDP, the PDP cannot continue to fold its hands in
the face of this killings and suppression of voters by the APC.

“The PDP, ahead of the March 9 elections, cautions the APC and
its compromised security agents to note that the people of the
Niger Delta are already hurting over the killings of their
compatriots during the February 23 election and any further
provocation will be a clear recipe for crisis.”

While reiterating its commitment to peaceful polls, the party
stressed that “nobody has a monopoly of show of strength. The
people of the Niger Delta are peace loving, but have never, in the
history of our nation, allowed themselves to be suppressed or
vanquished by oppressive forces.

“It is incontrovertible that the South South is a stronghold of
the PDP and the people are fully mobilized for the March 9
election. Our members and supporter are in every polling unit,
every collation centre, all exit and entry points in the area and
will use all legitimate means available in a democracy to defend
themselves and their votes.

“In this regard, any person who yields him or herself as a tool
in the hands of evil should therefore be ready to face the
legitimate anger of the people.

“Moreover, the PDP cautions the APC to be mindful of the fact
that the Niger Delta region is the mainstay of our national economy
and that any assault on the zone is capable of spelling doom for
our nation.

“The PDP calls the attention of the world to the devious devices
of the APC against the South South as such constitutes a huge
threat to our corporate existence as a nation.

“The PDP restates that the South South is our stronghold and
calls on our members and supporters in the zone and, of course, the
entire nation to boldly come out en-masse to vote on March 9 and
use every legitimate means to monitor and protect their votes to
the end.

Fielding questions on the sidelines of the press conference,
Ologbondiyan dismissed claims by APC national chairman, Comrade
Adams Oshiomhole, that Atiku Abubakar was unelectable. According to
the publicity scribe, the PDP does not take Oshiomhole’s utterances
serious.