Ahead gov election: PDP, ACN in rigging accusation •ACN has procured fake INEC forms – PDP •PDP plans to rig in Lagos – ACN

AHEAD of tomorrow’s governorship and state house of assembly elections, there have been accusations and counter-accusations over planned rigging of the polls between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP).

While the ACN has threatened that any attempt to subvert voters’ will will be met with the people’s wrath, the PDP pointed the finger of planned electoral fraud at the ACN, accusing it of procuring copies of fake Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form EC8A, to record fraudulent results at collation centres.

The ACN, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the warning became necessary as some PDP supporters had been “huffing and puffing” about how they would capture Lagos State, saying that the people’s anger would descend on anyone or party that attempted to thwart the will of the electorate on Tuesday.

The ACN said members of the PDP had been boasting, most especially in Lagos State, that it would ride on the back of its victory during the last presidential election to run over the opposition strongholds across the country to make an impact.

“What the people want is a genuinely free, fair and credible election. The seemingly free and fair poll, so far, under the Modified Open Ballot System has now been proven to be a facade in the real sense, since the poor oversight by INEC as well as observers at the various levels of the collation stage has given room for the PDP to massively doctor or cook up figures outright,” the party said.

The ACN said it was common knowledge that a former presidential aide, who was adept at doing dirty deals, had been dispatched to Lagos to bribe electoral officers with 200 million naira ahead of Tuesday’s poll.

It said no amount of money could force the people to vote for a party that was not their choice and which they believe would reverse the much-acclaimed giant strides made by the ACN administration in the past four years.

It added: ”Our party is known across the country as a peace-loving party and a strong believer in the rule of law, that will rather resort to lawful means than street battles to wrest our mandates from those who steal them. But there is always the danger that unrepentant vote thieves may push their luck too far, thus eliciting a spontaneous response from the people.”

But the PDP said it was the ACN supporters who had perfected plot to induce INEC officials to achieve planned cancellation of election results in PDP strongholds, as well as compromise the soldiers already attached to state commissioners to assist them in the fraud.

The PDP’s reaction was contained in a statement signed by chairman of the Ekiti State chapter, Chief Bola Olu-Ojo.

Chief Ojo further alleged that the Ekiti State government had earmarked a month’s federal allocation proceeds to cater for the secret manipulation, as advised by the governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, when he visited Ekiti, on Thursday.

According to the statement, “the ACN has procured army and police uniforms for use by thugs, who will move in government Hilux vehicles with FGN and EKGH number plates. These vehicles have already been withdrawn from the government drivers and distributed to the trained thugs for operation on election day.

“Also, Governor Kayode Fayemi and the leadership of the ACN have distributed guns and cutlasses made in Ghana to the thugs to carry out these electoral crimes, while members of the party were equally given cutlasses and catapults to disrupt elections where there are indications that ACN will lose.”

The party, therefore, called for the strict enforcement of the directive restricting the movement of governors, their deputies and government officials to their polling booths on election day.

Also, the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the ACN to manipulate the gubernatorial poll coming up in the state tomorrow.

Alao-Akala, who is also the incumbent governor of the state, also alleged that there was some unusual movement of materials and vehicles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Bashorun and Ikolaba areas of Ibadan, where some of the financiers and backers of the ACN were based.

The governor made this known in a press statement issued in Ibadan by the Director of Media and Publicity, Akala/Arapaja campaign organisation, Dr Morounkola Thomas, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday.

Noting that the desperation being exhibited by the leaders and pillars of the ACN in the state posed threat to the security of life and property, he, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police to provide adequate security for the election, as well as mounting surveillance on the suspects.

Governor Alao-Akala also called on the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, to direct the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Ayo Adakeja, to disclose to all political parties taking part in the election in the state the serial numbers of all ballot papers to be used in the election.

Promising that the alleged plan by the ACN to rig this election would be resisted, the governor also called on members of the public to be vigilant and not to succumb to the intimidation of those he described as desperate politicians.

Meanwhile, a pressure group, Niger Delta Youth Council (NDYC), on Sunday, raised the alarm about plans by the PDP in Delta State to rig gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections.

The group, therefore, warned against the action, noting that it was ready to ensure the conduct of a free and fair election by INEC in which the choice of the electorate would be respected.

The national president of the group, Mr Donatus Ebisin, in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, said the youth would do everything possible to ensure that votes counted in the election.