The coming Satur-day’s governorship election in Ekiti State has led to the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), threatening fire and brimstone if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) used the federal might to rig the election in the state.
The opposition party equally vowed to reject the election result if it is not transparent.
The new National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigwe-Oyegun, who specifically warned President Goodluck Jonathan, not to be a party to operation rig election in Ekiti State, however, said that he would immediately relocate to the state ahead of the Saturday’s election to see things for himself.
He also said that the party had lost faith in the promises and commitment of the present administration to guarantee a free and fair election in Ekiti State, saying that there are clear intent and deliberate plot by the PDP-led administration to subvert the elections.
According to him, “The All Progressives Congress (APC) will not accept the outcome of the election in Ekiti unless the authorities provide convincing explanations to the series of questionable developments in recent times.”
He stated that, “My first message today is to President Jonathan regarding series of occurrences that point to the fact that the PDP is bent on rigging the elections and writing the results of the Saturday election in Ekiti even before the polls open. If this dangerous trend is not arrested, the consequences will be dire for democracy and our country.
“The APC will not accept the outcome of the election in Ekiti unless the authorities provide convincing explanations to the series of questionable developments in recent times.
Oyegun added that, “series of developments and events are undeniable pointers to a desperate plot to rig the election at all cost. In the last few days, many developments have occurred that have exposed the covert and criminal effort to subvert the rights of the citizens of Ekiti and the country’s electoral law.
“Barely two Sundays ago, our supporters, during a peaceful procession in Ekiti, were tear gassed and infact, one was killed. The elected governor of the state Dr Kayode Fayemi, was also tear gassed and barely escaped being shot. Yet, instead of quickly prosecuting the police officers involved in this crisis, the police authorities simply went ahead in the most bizarre turn of events and charged a commissioner and eleven others from Ekiti State with acts of terrorism a few days to the election.
Meanwhile, the police that shot the APC member walks the street free.
“Again, only last week, a truck was intercepted with over 200 boxes of electoral materials by the security agents. INEC quickly claimed it was wasted materials, whereas the story of the driver contradicted that of INEC. To date, Nigerians are yet to be provided with full information about the culprits behind these suspicious materials.
“For our friends in the international community, there is no better time to speak up against these tendencies and ominous signs. They need no further pointers to know that some people are desperate.
Also, the PDP has accused the APC, of spreading falsehood over Saturday’s governorship election in Ekit State with the intention of causing violence.
The party, said in a statement issued by its National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo, in Abuja, on Wednesday, that the APC is engaged in a “well orchestrated plot” to “cause confusion and set the stage for disturbances in Ekiti State following their realisation that the people have rejected them ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.”
The statement alleged: “Part of this plot is the highly inflammatory address by the National Chairman of the APC, wherein he issued threats to President Jonathan and our great party using wild allegations, blackmail and lies as smoke screen to mask the plan by the APC governors to storm Ekiti State, set up camps in different local governments and use the privilege of their immunity status to perpetrate violence, induce voters, subvert the electoral law and the true will of Ekiti people.
“This is in addition to an orchestrated plot to use the Ekiti state owned television, EKTV to spread false information in the state, mislead the people and announce fake results at the end of the day.
“This is completely condemnable and only demonstrates the desperation of the APC in the face of rejection by the people.
The PDP added: “This report is totally false and intended to mislead the citizens of Ekiti State and set the stage to disorganise the entire process. While we condemn this clear abuse of the media, we wish to alert Nigerians of the APC plans to use the same television station to continue to spread false information regarding the election after which it will announce a fake result declaring its candidate the winner so as to cause confusion after they lose.”
It said the APC must understand that “their time is already up in Ekiti State. The people have already rejected them, their anti-people agenda and have queued behind our candidate, Mr. Ayo Fayose.”
The party, therefore, urged the people of Ekiti State to disregard the APC and “their clear call for violence and focus on the election,” charging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to ensure a free and fair election as “we expect nothing but the will of the people to prevail.”
Source: Tribune
