Nigeria’s leading opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday raised the alarm about plots to destabilise the electoral system ahead of the 2015 elections.
The ACN accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of embarking on a clandestine move because it has “now realised that if indeed the 2015 elections are free and fair there will be no chance for the party.”
But, the Presidency described as false the allegation by the ACN.
On its part, the PDP said it has uncovered plans by undemocratic elements to use the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the judiciary to discredit its leadership and destabilise the party.
And in Osun State, the ACN raised the alarm about the PDP’s plot to rig the 2014 governorship election.
Specifically, the ACN accused the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration of planning to throw the South-West into crisis through a pipeline surveillance contract awarded to a leader of a militant group in the zone.
“What is the way out for the PDP? The party has decided to go for broke: Either there will be no elections in 2015 or the polls will be conducted in an atmosphere of chaos, thereby paving the way for the PDP to do what it does best – rig the elections!” ACN said.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alleged that the PDP has perfected plots to destabilise the electoral process and the country ahead of the 2015 elections.
Mohammed said: “It is no longer a secret that the PDP-led Federal Government has failed the nation in all ramifications. In the provision of social amenities and standard infrastructure, ensuring the security of lives and property, provision of jobs for our teeming unemployed youths and generally ensuring better life for our people, the party that has presided over the affairs of our nation since 1999 has fallen short. To make matters worse, the party itself is imploding as a result of its own failings, and its tattered umbrella can no longer provide shelter from the elements for its increasingly disenchanted members.
“We make bold to say that the stand of the PDP is that having seen the handwriting on the wall, the party realises that it cannot win any free and fair elections in Nigeria in 2015. PDP and its stalwarts are therefore perfecting a sinister plan that will make free and fair elections impossible in 2015, or if at all the elections will be held, they will hold under curfew to give the party the cover it needs to rig the polls.
“ Also being considered is a plan under which emergency rule will be imposed on most parts of the country, following which elections will be put in abeyance, paving the way for tenure elongation. Instigation of violence in hitherto peaceful parts of the country is one of the means to achieve this plan.
“We are therefore alerting the good people of Nigeria as well as friends of the country around the world to closely monitor events as they unfold in the days ahead, along the lines that we have enunciated above.”
The party said that three recent events, all at the instance of the Federal Government, raised the red flag about the PDP plot in the 2015 elections.
The party cited the instances: A multi-billion naira contract has suddenly been awarded for the protection of oil pipelines in the region; the main beneficiary of the contract has suddenly realised that the Unity Party of Nigeria, formed by the respected statesman Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is no longer in existence, and has thus decided to revive it; just about the same time, suspected Boko Haram members have been arrested in Lagos, specifically at a house belonging to the government of Bayelsa State.
ACN thus asked a number a number of questions: “What is the real intention of the Federal Government in awarding this oil pipeline protection contract? Is it a mere coincidence that the main beneficiary of the multi-billion naira oil pipeline protection contract is also the same fellow who is promoting the revival of the UPN? Could the huge contract have been meant to provide the seed money for the promoters of this party?
“Is it true, as it is being alleged in certain quarters, that the essence of the contract is to recruit 30,000 youths who will ostensibly protect the pipelines, but in the real sense are ready hands to foment violence on demand in the South- West?
“Is it true that the socalled revival of the UPN is to provide a platform for anarchists and end-gamers in the South-West to infiltrate the ranks of the progressives and throw the region into chaos?
“Why is it that suddenly, Boko Haram suspects are popping up in Lagos, and some of those who have been arrested were residing in a building owned by the Bayelsa State government? Is the Bayelsa State government aware of this and, if so, what has it done to evict them from the building? Who are the ragamuffins paraded by security agencies as Boko Haram suspects working for?
“Why have some people in the South-West been engaging in Boko Haram baiting in recent times, vociferously warning that if Boko Haram comes to the region, they will be crushed? Is it a coincidence that this Boko Haram baiting has become stronger since the oil pipeline contract was awarded?
“Who are the brains behind the continuous efforts to sabotage the merger of the progressives? Who bankrolled the tatterdemalions, the disreputable people who are parading themselves as African Peoples Congress? Only this morning (Sunday), it was reported that a new group is trying to register APCN, in continuation of the sabotage attempts. And who are the real faces of the so-called ANPP stakeholders who have been making spurious claims concerning the All Progressives’ Congress (APC)?”
ACN said it will be keenly watching events as they unfold, either in the South- West or elsewhere. “After all, it is said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. In this regard, we call on all our supporters, all progressives and indeed all Nigerians to be vigilant. We will also like to warn that no nation can survive a combination of ethnic and religious conflagration, and that those who will instigate crisis to push a personal and selfish agenda risk being consumed by it,” Mohammed said.
However, the Presidency in a statement issued last night by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the ACN Publicity Secretary tried to exploit real challenges confronting the nation by instilling fear in the populace through the use of unrelated events while hoping to use such patterns and trends to build a conspiratorial case.
Abati said the allegation fell quickly like a pack of cards when confronted with the facts, adding that there is an emerging pattern of disinformation and politics by trickery, orchestrated by Lai Mohammed and his ilk which is unsuitable to democratic experience.
He said: “It is a fact that President Goodluck Jonathan has presided over major elections since his assumption of office – the 2011 general elections, the 2012 state gubernatorial elections in Edo, Kogi, Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River and Bayelsa as well as other elections in different parts of the country; which were all adjudged by local and international observers as free, fair and peaceful.
“Indeed, President Jonathan’s commitment to electoral reforms, which is founded on the ‘one manone vote’ ethos underscores the administration’s belief and commitment to an emerging political culture that is inclusive, participatory and transparent.
“When juxtaposed against Lai Mohammed’s allegations, it would appear to any discerning citizen that Alhaji Mohammed is engaged in disinformation, the likes of which we heard ahead of the elections referenced above, thus suggesting a well worn tactic.
“The integrity of elections is without doubt one of the major achievements of this administration. It remains a legacy issue for President Jonathan. Lai Mohammed’s allegations of tenure elongation, instigation of violence, likely emergency rule, and a sinister plan that will make free and fair elections impossible in 2015 are entirely hollow and a figment of his imagination.
“More specifically and to buttress his conspiratorial claim, the ACN spokesman alleged that the Federal Government has awarded an oil pipeline protection contract to serve as a smokescreen to fund activities that would create chaos in the South-West. Fact is, no such contract was ever awarded by this administration.
“The more alarming aspect of the disingenuous press conference was the deliberate attempt to exploit religious and ethnic differences amongst citizens to create a state of siege and fear ahead of the 2015 elections. This was clear in the use of the national Boko Haram crisis and the ‘terror-baiting’ of the populace. Is the ACN hatching a plot of electoral violence through auto-suggestion?”
Also, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement made available to National Mirror described the allegation by the ACN as tissues of lies.
In a statement made available to National Mirror last night, Metuh said: “The statement is replete with tissues of lies and propaganda and once again portrays the ACN as a party that lacks direction and given to noise making.
“It is on record that President Goodluck Jonathan has fully empowered security agencies to effectively tackle the Boko Haram insurgency and his decision to set up an Amnesty Committee on the issue shows his dedication and total commitment in his regard.
“We challenge the opposition to come out with their solution to the problems instead of always trying to heat up the system for selfish reasons. We decry the emphasis on Lagos and South-West and enjoin the ACN to go beyond their regional approach to issues concerning the country.”
In a related development, the PDP yesterday said that some people have manufactured reports aimed at destroying the credibility of the party’s convention in which its national leadership were produced in 2012.
“We wish to alert Nigerians to a destructive plot by certain reactionary forces who working hand in glove with collaborators in the INEC have manufactured a spurious report, specifically aimed at destroying the credibility of the party’s 2012 National Convention, which brought in the current National Working Committee, NWC, using judicial officers of questionable integrity,” he said.
PDP said a revisit of the 2012 National Convention was a measure of the desperation of some politicians to achieve selfish ambition even at the risk of destroying their party.
His words: “Till date, the PDP remains the only political party in the country that conducts transparent internal elections, which start with the ward, local government and state congresses culminating in the national convention. The 2012 exercise was not only unique in the level of participation of party members but in the rancor free, sports-like attitude which various contestants exhibited.
“The current NWC, since inauguration, has maintained a sound working rhythm with the members and critical stakeholdersthe President, the National Assembly, which the party controls and the PDP State Governors whose newlyformed forum which the party leadership engineered, is already sending cold shivers and causing colly-wobbles in the opposition camp.”
Metuh said the wheel of reconciliation and progress is gradually turning full circle with the recently concluded peace and reconciliation tour of the Party’s NWC and the complementary peace initiatives by the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees.
PDP said: “In whose interest therefore are these system vampires fighting? In whose interest and at whose behest are these merchants of infamy laying these mines, which could blow our great party sky-high.
“It is no doubt in the service of selfish interest of this tiny clique of politicians of fortune, those whose ambition must be served or the party crumbles.
“We as leaders of this great party will not fold our hands while those whose lack of self confidence in free and fair democratic process which our leadership has set as a sine qua non for the 2015 electoral exercises has driven into an unconscionable frenzy of either hijacking the party or destroying its hard earned democratic credibility.”
Also, the ACN in Osun State has alleged of a grand plot by the PDP to massively rig the 2014 election in Osun State.
The party said the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, will be used to create chaos before and after the election process, just like it happened in 2003.
In a statement made available to National Mirror yesterday by the ACN Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Barr. Kunle Oyatomi, the party said authoritative information leaked to the ACN in Osun from the meeting of PDP leaders in Osogbo over the weekend gave graphic details of how the plans to tamper with names on the voters’ list in each polling station; effect mass transfer of security personnel from the state perceived to be sympathetic to ACN; and orchestrate a massive ballot box snatching exercise similar to what the party did in 2003 to rig Chief Bisi Akande out of office.
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