Press Statement
Planned Kogi Rigging, A Coup Against Democracy – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been made aware and hereby
informs Nigerians of clandestine meetings involving the Presidency, the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and some security forces wherein the agencies were ordered
to use official and unofficial means necessary to ensure victory for the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 21 Kogi governorship election.
We have incontrovertible records of separate meetings, late last
week between the Presidency and the new INEC leadership as well as with some
top security officers, which were coordinated by the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal, who boasted that he
has President Muhammadu Buhari’s orders to ensure that Kogi state is wrestled from
the PDP by all means.
We alert all to be aware of this planned ‘coup’, against democracy
again, by the now ‘new sherrif’, who though, being the biggest beneficiary of
free and fair election in the history of Nigeria, is now out to corrupt the
electoral system and destroy our democracy, all in the obsession to foist a
one-party state in the country.
*Metuh
Intelligence information available to us shows that at the meeting
with the new INEC leadership under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the commission was
given orders regarding the posting of compromised personnel to strategic areas
in the state to manipulate the card readers as well as the actual voting
process in favour of the APC, with assurance of adequate protection by
government security agencies, particularly the Directorate of State Services
(DSS).
We are aware that in another meeting also held in Abuja
To kick off the rigging process and underscore the desperation to
take over Kogi state, the President himself is billed to be in the state on
Wednesday to endorse the APC candidate, Alhaji Audu Abubakar, a man facing
charges of corruption.
It is to say the least, an embarrassing miscarriage of justice
that the same President who rode to power on much publicized anti-corruption
credentials, would not only superintend over plots to corrupt the electoral
process, but also endorse a man facing corruption charges as his governorship
candidate.
Whereas majority of Nigerians have seen through the cosmetic
anti-corruption stance of the President Buhari-led APC government, the PDP
wishes to state in the strongest possible terms that the people of Kogi state
love their Governor and are fully in support of his re-election bid. We
therefore caution the President and the APC to watch their steps as their plots
have not only been exposed, but will also be stiffly resisted by the people.
In this regard, the new INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu must
note that his legacy is at stake and that the Kogi election is for him, an iron
test. Prof. Yakubu must immediately distance himself and the commission from
this planned ‘coup’ against democracy or be ready to hold himself responsible
should there be any breakdown of law and order in the state during and after
the elections.
Let it be known to President Buhari, the APC, INEC and security
forces that no amount of force, intimidation and manipulation can bend the will
of the people of Kogi state in their preference for the PDP and Governor Idris
Wada, and that they will not accept any results that do not reflect their
wishes and aspirations at the poll.
Finally, we call on all Nigerians and the international community
to note that our president does not believe in free and fair election, though
himself being a huge beneficiary of same. He has ordered the rigging of the
November 21 governorship election in Kogi state, an ignoble planned overthrow
of democracy, for which he is now leading in the front.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity
Secretary
November 15, 2015
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