Report by Mudasir Opeyemi
The Presidential Campaign Council has asked security agencies to invite PDP leaders for questioning over allegations levied against the party and it’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
PDP had in a statement yesterday alleged that APC/Tinubu behind the recent attacks on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in some parts of the country.
“Part of the plot is the current attacks on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission 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, were targeted and destroyed.
“Also, 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.
“Intelligence available to our party indicates that the attack on INEC facilities is to prevent newly registered voters from collecting their PVCs; destroy the PVCs so that they will not be available for collection in INEC offices, and thirdly, destroy INEC equipment and cripple its capacity to conduct elections,” PDP had alleged
Reacting,Minister of State, Labour and Employment and Chief Spokesperson of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council PCC, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, said PDP was only crying where there is none
He added that, the opposition party was trying to divert the attention of Nigerians from the imminent defeat the party and it’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar is currently experiencing.
“We note with concern the incoherent and convoluted statement by the ethically-challenged the PDP, yet again raising alarm about certain plots to incite violence and derail the 2023 polls and having ‘credible information’ as to those unleashing violence in certain parts of the country,” Keyamo said
“This 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”.
“The PDP must provide information regarding the place and time such a meeting took place and those in attendance.
“The PDP must provide the identities of those who committed these acts of arson on the facilities of INEC, and the information must also include the identity of those who sponsored these individuals (if any).
“We suspect that the latest alarm by the PDP is one of a long list of diversionary measures adopted by the party to deflect attention from its crumbling edifice. Just yesterday, the major leaders of the PDP in Katsina State led by a former Katsina State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Shema, and 10 out of the 14-member working committee of the PDP boycotted the party’s rally in the state and today, they issue this statement to deflect attention from that disaster.
“We also state that this gimmick is nothing but crying wolf when there is none. We have said in an earlier statement on this issue some weeks ago that this is the same unnecessary scare-mongering tactics and crass vituperations they employed and engaged in before the 2019 election which led to their crushing defeat.”
PCC described it’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu as a thoroughbred democrat and one of the major architects of the Democracy PDP and Nigerians enjoy today.
“We also said before and we repeat it here that ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a thoroughbred democrat and one of the major architects of the democracy PDP and Nigerians enjoy today, so he should be the VERY LAST of the Presidential candidates to be accused of undemocratic conduct or underhand dealings in the electoral process.
“The PDP should not joke or play politics with grave security matters. Having ‘credible information’ as to plots and individuals relating to the attack on INEC offices currently, further plots to disrupt elections is, indeed, a matter of national security.
“THIS IS THEREFORE A NOTICE TO OUR LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES TO IMMEDIATELY INVITE THE PDP LEADERS FOR QUESTIONING. AFTER ALL, IT TAKES A THIEF TO CATCH A THIEF!”