Ahead of the March 9, 2019 governorship and state assembly elections, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged illegal occupation and siege on states in the South-South zone.
LEADERSHIP Friday recalls that all the states in the zone, except Edo State, are controlled by the PDP.
The party named the affected states as Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said yesterday in Abuja that the “illegal operation is to further militarise the South-South zone, use soldiers to suppress voters and re-enact the massive rigging of polls for the APC as obtained in the February 23 presidential election.”
He warned that “those who sow the wind should also be ready to reap the whirlwind.”
According to him, it is clear that after using the military to unleash violence, alter results and fabricate 25 per cent ballot for Buhari across the South-South states and other PDP strongholds, the APC wants to use the military to fight the party’s governors, suppress its members and forcefully take over the states in question.
He said that Nigerians are aware of how APC leaders from the zone are boasting that the military would use violence to make them win the governorship election, the same way it did during the presidential election, where innocent Nigerians were brutalised and murdered.
“Nigerians are witnesses to how 13 persons were killed in Akuku-Toru local government area in Rivers State, in addition to those killed in Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Emohua local government areas during the presidential election,” he said.
Ologbondiyan accused a serving minister of using soldiers to hold an INEC official hostage, changed the election results and allocated fabricated figures to President Buhari in Rivers.
He also alleged that a senator from Akwa Ibom State had been using soldiers to suppress and harass his opponents, in spite of the assurances by the INEC chairman that the military would not be involved in the ongoing election.
In Bayelsa State, the PDP spokesman claimed that soldiers were used against the people, which led to the killing of the photographer of Governor Seriake Dickson, adding that the deputy commissioner of police in the state was even kidnapped.
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“Now that it is clear to all that the 2019 election is not between the PDP and the APC, but a war between the state apparatus of power and the PDP, the PDP cannot continue to fold its hands in the face of these killings and suppression of voters by the APC.
“On this note, the PDP, ahead of the March 9 elections, cautions the APC and its compromised security agents to note that the people of the Niger Delta are already hurt over the killings of their compatriots during the February 23 election and any further provocation will be a clear recipe for crisis.
“The PDP is committed to the conduct of peaceful election but cautions that nobody has a monopoly of the show of strength. The people of the Niger Delta are peace-loving, but have never, in the history of our nation, allowed themselves to be suppressed or vanquished by oppressive forces.
‘It is incontrovertible that the South-South is a stronghold of the PDP and the people are fully mobilised for the March 9 election. Our members and supporters are in every polling unit, every collation centre, all exit and entry points in the area and will use all legitimate means available in a democracy to defend themselves and their votes,” the party said.
The PDP cautioned the APC to be mindful of the fact that the Niger Delta region is the mainstay of the nation’s economy and that any assault on the zone is capable of spelling doom for the nation.
The party called the attention of the international community to the alleged “devious devices” of the APC against the South-South as they constituted a huge threat to the corporate existence of the country.
…INEC Chairman, 37 RECs Review Presidential Poll
Also yesterday, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, held a meeting in Abuja with the resident electoral commissioners (RECs) in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Although the meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report last night, LEADERSHIP Friday learnt that it was called by Yakubu to review the just-concluded presidential and the National Assembly elections.
Yakubu had on Wednesday morning declared Buhari the winner of the election with 15,191,847 while Atiku polled 11,262,978 votes to emerge second.
INEC sources said that meeting assessed the general process of the first phase of the general elections so that it can plan better for the governorship, state assemblies and FCT Area Council elections scheduled for March 9.
“The meeting we are holding today (yesterday) is to prepare for the upcoming elections in 29 states and the FCT,” Yakubu said before the meeting went to closed-door session.
