- By Halimah Olamide
The All Progressive Congress has countered the Peoples Democratic Party which earlier on Monday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission and the APC of conniving to manipulate the outcome of the Saturday’s presidential election.
Dele Alake, Director Strategy of the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC, who addressed journalists in Abuja, said the police must arrest those inciting their followers to violence over the outcome of the election.
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Alake, who was accompanied by other chieftains of the campaign like Festus Keyamo, Femi Fani-Kayode and Bayo Onanuga, said the agent of the PDP at the Collation Centre, Dino Melaye, should be arrested over his claims calling for violence.
Alake alleged that all allegations being made by the PDP and the Labour Party are meant to instigate mass unrest.
Alake added that the result in Lagos state where Tinubu lost to the candidate of the Labour Party is a testimony to the freeness of the process adding that “if we did not rig them out in Lagos, how can we rig them out anywhere else. So, when eventually, Asiwaju is declared winner of this process, no one should complain.”
“We note with utmost concern those inciting comments and call to violence by some spokespersons of the opposition, especially those from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We are particularly concerned and call on the State Security Services and the Nigeria Police Force to immediately restrain persons such as Dino Melaye, Dele Momodu and a certain Pastor Paul Enenche of Dunamis Church from their clear call to violence.
“Melaye’s tweet threatening violence, Momodu going on the TV to announce a purported winner and Enenche’s hate speech from the pulpit violate every law of the land. They should not go scot-free,” Alake said
He said it is obvious that failure has become obvious to the PDP and the Labour Party, saying that “rather than accept the outcome with dignity like good democrats would, some sore losers began shopping for ways to cut corners or scuttle the process. We have seen many doctored results giving false victory to the Labour Party in places where it performed abysmally poor.
“The idea was to give its followers hope and prepare them for a planned street insurrection. The PDP has employed almost similar tactics despite secretly admitting defeat. They went about with mouthwatering offers looking for willing partners that would help them subvert the will of the people.”
He accused the PDP of stampeding the INEC into uploading the results so as to be able to hack the system and input their own results.
“Is the PDP calling for the upload to enable it hack the system to give it a false victory?
“Unlike what the PDP spokesmen have done, we will not announce ourselves as winners despite having the figures which affirm our anticipated victory.
“We will abide by the laws by allowing the electoral umpire to do its job.”
Alake said a look at the figures from across the states show that our candidate is well placed for victory. The results have shown that the Labour Party, as we kept saying, is no threat to our victory.
“The PDP, on the other hand, has also failed in its own permutation making its dream of victory go up in smoke. The PDP’s projection of a landslide win in the North has collapsed.”