The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has enjoined Nigerians to hold the All Progressives Congress (APC) responsible for the burning of the head office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Akure, Ondo state last week.
The spokesman of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday in a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Abuja said that information available to the PDP “indicates that the heinous act was perpetrated by agents of the APC as part of plots by APC leaders in the state to destroy INEC sensitive equipment so as to frustrate the conduct of credible, free and fair governorship election in the state.”
He continued that: “It is clear that the APC has been in extreme fear over the soaring popularity of the PDP governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, across the state, for which the APC has resorted to violence and underhand tactics, particularly after realizing that there is no way its candidate, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who has failed the people can win in a transparent, free and fair election on October 10.
“Our party invites Nigerians to note that the attack on the Ondo INEC office came after, self-confessed APC militant in the state, Isaac Kekemeke, boasted that the APC will use violence to rig the October 10 election and that Governor Akeredolu was behind the violent political attacks rocking the state.
“Kekemeke had also boasted of APC’s plans to import armed thugs and militants to unleash mayhem in the state and disrupt a peaceful electoral process.
“It is therefore not by happenstance that the fire occurred in no other place than the facility where sensitive materials, such as card readers were stored, leading to the destruction of not less than 5,141 card readers meant for the election were destroyed.
“Nigerians can recall that failure by security agencies to pull in individuals like Kekemeke and other APC hoodlums for questioning emboldened such brazen attack on INEC head office (in Ondo).
“Moreover, our party has also been reliably informed of plots by the APC to attack other INEC facilities in the state in its desperation to cripple the commission and impede to conduct of a credible poll.
“Our party restates our call on the security agencies to check the violence proclivities of the APC by immediately inviting Governor Akeredolu, Kekemeke and other APC leaders in Ondo state for questioning and possible extraction of undertaking from them ahead of the election.
“We call on INEC to note that APC is after its facilities and as such put stronger measures to protect itself from the assaults of the APC.
“Furthermore, our party will intensely monitor the process of replacement of the burnt card readers by INEC. This is to ensure that the APC did not succeed in their plots to manipulate the programming of the new card readers to suit their ugly plots of compromising sensitive data in the existing voters register in Ondo State.
“Furthermore, the PDP urged the people of Ondo state to remain at alert and resist the APC in their plot to disrupt credible elections on October 10.
“Above all, we restate our call on Governor Akeredolu to accept that he has failed the people with his incompetent administration; he should come to terms with the fact that the people have rejected him and that no amount of violence will make them bend their resolve to replace him with the PDP candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, come October 10.”
