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 internationally”.
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