Don’t Repeat Ekiti Rigging Strategy Under Any Guise, APC Warns Jonathan, PDP

Gentlemen, we have additional information to give you on
what has now become Ekitigate. Contrary to the general belief,
it was not just the military that was involved. It was the entire
gamut of the nation’s security agencies: The police, the State
Security Service (SSS) and the Civil Defence. They were all
constituted into a task force that was deployed to each local
government and placed under the command of the PDP. We
have the names of all the servicemen involved in the criminal
act, as well as their service and telephones numbers. On the
morning of the Ekiti election, not one APC leader was a free
man or woman. They were either in detention, in hiding or on
the run, because the task force carried out its duty with brutal
efficiency.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned the Jonathan
lead administration and the ruling party, Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) that it should not repeat Ekiti rigging strategy
under any guise.
This was made known, Monday, during a press conference by
the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in
Lagos.
The Statement read thus
As you are very much aware, the final countdown has begun to
the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for
Saturday, March 28th.
As the clock ticks toward the D-Day, we are compelled to alert
Nigerians, local and foreign election observers and indeed the
international community to the strategy being employed by the
PDP-led Jonathan Administration to manipulate the elections,
using what we call the Modified Ekiti Rigging Strategy.
It is no longer news that a Captain in the Nigerian Army, Sagir
Koli, has exposed how the Administration used the military to
rig the Governorship Election in Ekiti on June 21st 2014.
According to Capt. Sagir, soldiers were put at the behest of
designated PDP officials at each of the 16 local governments in
the state to work with the officials to rig the elections.
Once the PDP officials pointed out any APC leader in a
particular local government, such leader was either arrested and
detained or simply hounded into hiding. APC leaders who were
arrested also had the funds in their possession, including
money to pay party agents and for other logistics, confiscated
as they were detained till well after the election.
Gentlemen, we have additional information to give you on what
has now become Ekitigate. Contrary to the general belief, it was
not just the military that was involved. It was the entire gamut
of the nation’s security agencies: The police, the State Security
Service (SSS) and the Civil Defence. They were all constituted
into a task force that was deployed to each local government
and placed under the command of the PDP. We have the names
of all the servicemen involved in the criminal act, as well as
their service and telephones numbers. On the morning of the
Ekiti election, not one APC leader was a free man or woman.
They were either in detention, in hiding or on the run, because
the task force carried out its duty with brutal efficiency.
In view of the global outcry over the Ekiti show of shame, there
is a plan to slightly modify it for Saturday’s election, hence
what we have now termed the Modified Ekiti Rigging Strategy.
Since indications are that the military is no longer willing to be
used for such an illegal act, and other security agencies know
they will be under the searchlight on election days, those who
are averse to a free, fair, credible and violence-free polls have
simply come up with the plan to sew military and police
uniforms for their party thugs to wear on election day so they
can rig the elections for the PDP! A large number of uniformed
personnel on election day will be those donning fake uniforms
and ranks, and their mandate will be to rig for the PDP and
terrorize opposition members and supporters.
They have also mobilized ethnic militias across the country:
MASSOB in the South East; OPC in the South West and ex-
militants in the Niger Delta. Mobilized under the pretext of a 9
billion Naira pipeline contract, the marching order given to the
ethnic militias is to destabilize the election in their respective
regions, thus rendering it inconclusive. After all, the PDP knows
it cannot win a free, fair and peaceful election. The highly
disruptive and armed protest by the OPC in Lagos last Monday
was a dress rehearsal for the plot.
Also, thugs have been trained in several South Western States,
particularly Ondo and Ogun States, to disrupt the coming
elections. In Ondo State, training was organized by the PDP
new leadership in Ilaje/Okitipupa zone. These thugs, numbering
over 300, were given two weeks training in weapons use under
a Commander/President called Miti. They have now been moved
in 12 buses to join the Ogun State Group from where they will
be dispatched to other states in the South West, with arms.
For the Northern part of the country, the plot is to deploy the
Special Forces, who were trained in Belarus, to the liberated
territories in the North East, ostensibly to hold the liberated
territories but in reality to rig the election for the PDP. Also,
Vice President Namadi Sambo has met with security chiefs in
Kaduna with a request that they must deliver 2 million votes to
the PDP anyhow, with promises of mouth-watering incentives
include cash and promotion
Gentlemen, the Inspector-General of Police and the Service
Chiefs are also part of the plot. You will recall the unlawful
warning issued by the IGP urging voters to cast their ballot and
immediately leave the polling units. A similar order is expected
to be issued by the Chief of Army Staff ahead of the election,
and the orders are aimed at harassing and intimidating voters
as well as ensuring they do not stay around to prevent the PDP
rigging plans. We urge Nigerians to ignore such unlawful
directives which are not grounded in the Electoral Act, as
pointed out by the INEC Chairman. Nigerians must not only
vote, they must stay behind to protect their votes. Without
being disruptive, they should use their phone cameras to
document proceedings at the various polling booths, so that no
one will tamper with their votes. All they are required to do is
to conduct themselves peacefully.
We are here to sound the alarm loud and clear: We will not
accept accept a repeat of the Ekiti rigging strategy in any form,
modified or
not. Voters must not be harassed or intimidated and they must
be allowed to defend their votes, as supported by the Electoral
Act. Those who are bent on rigging the elections must know
that Nigeria will be under a global spotlight on election day. No
polling booth, no matter where it is located, will escape that
spotlight.
In this regard, we want to commend the international friends of
our country, Nigeria, in particular the United States and Britain,
for their support in making sure that the forthcoming elections
are free, fair, credible and violence-free. Many of you must have
read the OP-ED page article jointly written by US Secretary of
State John Kerry and British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs Phillip Hammond.
We at the APC associate ourselves with that timely article, in
which the authors urged ”all eligible Nigerians to vote, resist
those who attempt to incite violence, and to come together as
one country to defend the country against terrorist threats”.
They went further: ”There are good reasons why the
international spotlight is firmly fixed on Nigeria during this
critical period and why we have come together to support an
open and credible electoral process. Nigeria is Africa’s largest
democracy and what happens there will have an impact well
beyond its borders. A successful election, free from violence
and with wide participation, accurate vote counting, and
responsible leadership from the candidates would inspire the
region and spur future progress and prosperity. It would also be
a historic show of support by
Nigerians for democratic values and an equally firm rejection of
the brutal terrorist group, Boko Haram, and others who
advocate or perpetrate violence.”
We urge all our members and supporters, and indeed all
Nigerians, to show uncommon courage and patriotism by doing
whatever it takes, lawfully, to defend their votes. We urge them
to repudiate those who are planning to foment chaos or rig the
polls.
To those planning to disrupt or rig the elections and instigate
violence, we ask them to heed the warning signals from the
international community, as aptly conveyed by Mr. John Kerry
and Mr Phillip Hammond, that ”any person who incites violence
at any stage in the electoral process, or who seeks power
through unconstitutional means, should be held accountable
and should understand that the consequences will be severe,
both domestically and internationall