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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Ahead of the March 9 governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, alleged that there is an illegal military occupation of Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers states.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who said this at a press conference in Abuja, alleged that it is part of the ploy by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to suppress voters and rig out opposition governors in the affected states.
Ologbondiyan alleged that APC leaders in the South South have been going about boasting that they will use the military and violence to ‘win’ the governorship polls in the zone.
He cautioned against the use of military to intimidate opposition leaders and suppress voters before and after the governorship and state assembly polls, as that would constitute a threat to the corporate existence of the country.
“This 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 was done in the widely discredited February 23 presidential election.
“However, the PDP warns that those who sow the wind should also be ready to reap the whirlwind.
“It is clear that after using military to unleash violence, alter results and muscle out fabricated 25 percent ballot for President Muhammadu Buhari across the South South states and other PDP strongholds, the APC now wants to use the military to fight our governors, suppress our members and forcefully take over our states.
“Nigerians already know how APC leaders from the South South are going around boasting that the military will use violence to give them governorship election triumph, the same way it did during the presidential election, where innocent Nigerians were brutalised and murdered.
“Nigerians are witnesses to how 13 persons were murdered in Akuku-Toru Local Government in Rivers State, in addition to those killed in Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Emohua local government areas during the presidential election.
“In Bayelsa State, soldiers were freely used against the people. In the process, the state governor’s photographer was murdered. The deputy commissioner of police in the state was even kidnapped.
“In Brass East Senatorial district of the state, it was a war situation as the military took over the electoral process and even declared winners. Soldiers were deployed to the remotest villages where the voters were suppressed and results altered in favour of president Buhari.
“It is clear to all that the election is not between the PDP and the APC, but a war between the state apparatus of power and the PDP; and the PDP cannot continue to fold its hands in the face of this 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 hurting over the killings of their compatriots during the February 23 election, and any further provocation will be a clear recipe for crisis.”
Ologbondiyan said South South remains a stronghold of the PDP, noting that, members of the party and their 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.”
