The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party and the Presidency of plans to rig the 2015 general election, especially the presidential poll.
In a statement in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the strategy being employed by the PDP and the Presidency, was to destabilise Nigeria in their desperation to win the 2015 elections at all cost.
Part of the plans APC claimed included suppression of votes in areas where the President?s chances are slim, using the police and the military.
The APC also alleged plan to use what it has tagged a “Third Force” to bamboozle Nigerians and project the image of a performing Presidency; engage in the destabilization of the APC using moles and fifth columnists; instigate chaos in the South-West using what they called the ?Old Afenifere Guards”; as well as infiltrate and weaken socio-cultural and socio-political organizations in areas they deemed to be unfavourable to the President.
The statement read: ?The dogged pursuit of this action of dealing with supposed recalcitrant members has led to suspensions, expulsions and alienation of some PDP members, and it was the immediate trigger of the collapse of the party of tattered umbrella. After all, it is said that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
“The North-East and the North-West have been singled out as areas where votes must be suppressed in 2015, by creating an enabling environment for the deployment of ‘special forces’ in the run-up to the 2015 elections. They intend to launch police/military actions in the run-up to 2015, to ensure most of the registered voters in the zones are disenfranchised.”
The party added: ?The reason these two geo-political zones have been singled out for ?vote suppression? is because of what the PDP/Presidency called the ?voting demographics? in the zones in 2011. The North West had 18,900,543 registered voters in 2011 while the North-East had 10,038,119. By contrast, the President?s ?safe support base? of South-South and South-East had 8,937,057 and 7,028,560 respectively, the total of which was less than that of the North-West alone!
?The PDP/Presidency therefore believe that unless the votes in these two zones are suppressed, and those of the South-West (14,298,356) stifled one way or the other, the chances of the President winning re-election are very poor. Needless to say that these three zones (NE, NW and SW) are considered to be hostile to the President, hence must be tamed.?
On the Third Force, the APC said it involves railroading unsuspecting credible and independent-minded Nigerians with deep knowledge of, and extensive penetration of the media, civil society, labour, youth, women and ethnic nationalities into the plan, in which they will be given scripts written by the government and sent out to inundate the airwaves and the print media, posing as experts and public analysts to peddle lies and reel out statistics that have no bearing on the standard of living of the average Nigerian.
The party said perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the plot is the determined attempt by the PDP/Presidency to constrict the democratic space by moving against the main opposition party, which they regard as a ?real threat? to the President if it (party) does not implode or forced to break up before 2015.
It called on Nigerians to be vigilant in the days, weeks and months ahead as the PDP/Presidency begin to roll out their grand plot.
