On Wednesday, the Peoples Democratic Party urged security services to look into and punish Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC's presidential candidate, for allegedly plotting to rig the general election in 2023.
In order to achieve a calm, free, fair, transparent, and credible electoral process, the party further requested that President Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) summon Tinubu and his party members.
At a press conference in Abuja, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP spokesperson, announced the decision.
Political power "is not going to be served in a restaurant," the APC candidate had earlier this month assured his supporters in a private meeting in London. It isn't available à la carte. You must do it at all costs; fight for it, seize it, and run with it because that is what we are doing.
But Ologunagba said, “In response to this directive, APC leaders and members have now activated plots to derail the electoral process through orchestrated violent attacks in various states of the country aimed to trigger a national security emergency, instil fear and make it appear not conducive to conduct elections in the country.
“Part of the plot is the current attacks on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, in various parts of the country as witnessed in Ogun, Osun and Imo States where sections critical to the conduct of elections particularly those connected to the collection of Permanent Voters Cards PVCs were targeted and destroyed.”
Continuing, the PDP spokesperson said, “Our party has been made aware of plans by the APC to orchestrate attacks in other states particularly Kogi and Delta; some states of the South East as well as parts of the North with the view to subverting the electoral process in as many states as possible.
The PDP spokesperson continued, "Our party has been informed of efforts by the APC to coordinate attacks in other states, including Kogi and Delta; several South East states; and some regions of the North, all with the intention of influencing the outcome of as many state elections as possible.
"According to information made available to our party, the attack on INEC facilities is intended to stop newly registered voters from picking up their PVCs, destroy the PVCs so that they are no longer available for pickup in INEC offices, and, thirdly, destroy INEC equipment to impair the organization's ability to conduct elections.
Additionally, the APC has added a very unsettling element by buying PVCs from unaware Nigerians through financial inducements disguising as empowerment initiatives.
“In any case, our party is not surprised at the resort to violence by Asiwaju Tinubu and the APC; a clear acceptance of electoral defeat which accounts for the APC’s presidential candidate’s decision to boycott the signing of the National Peace Accord by presidential candidates in the 2023 elections.
“Of course, the London meeting where Asiwaju Tinubu directed his party members to unleash violence on Nigerians was a closed-door event which inadvertently leaked to the public. The APC aimed to hit our nation with violence and mislead security agencies to direct their investigation on criminal elements and social restiveness, instead of the real culprit, the APC.”
Festus Keyamo, the spokesman for the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, responded to the claim by urging law enforcement organizations to question the PDP officials.
According to Keyamo, the way Ologunagba and the party fabricated the claims made during their conference suggests that they are not merely trying to mislead Nigerians but rather that they know more than they are claiming.
In the statement he said: “This press statement, coming just barely 48 hours after one of its former officials was convicted by a court of law over illegal acts committed during an election over which the PDP government presided, is just a pointer to the lowest level of moral debauchery to which the PDP has sunk.
“It operates without an iota of shame or respect for the Nigerian people. Instead of continuous apologies for those grievous acts of election rigging, money laundering and other electoral malpractices, it continues to pontificate.
“Based on its latest statement about having ‘credible information’ about certain individuals plotting to derail the 2023 elections, including acts of arson already perpetrated on the facilities of INEC, we, therefore, call on the law-enforcement agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite the PDP leaders for immediate questioning.”
Keyamo asserted that the PDP must disclose details regarding the location and timing of such a meeting, the attendees, and the names of those who set fire to INEC premises and those who sponsored them.
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