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•Calls on security agencies to take proactive steps
By Sunday Ani
The Enugu State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, has raised the alarm over alleged plots by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, to violently influence and manipulate the outcome of the electoral process using armed political thugs.
According to Edeoga, credible intelligence available to the hierarchy of the LP has shown grand plans by forces of destabilisation to deploy the services of criminals and undesirable elements in well-orchestrated plots to frustrate the determination of the people of Enugu State for peaceful and credible governorship and state houses of assembly elections on March 18, 2023.
A statement by the LP candidate, a copy of which was made available to the Daily Sun, alleged that weapons, which were legitimately acquired by the Enugu State Government for use by the state Vigilante Services and the Forest Guards to support the efforts of the conventional security agencies in protecting lives and property in the state, had been distributed to political party thugs for use in destabilising the electoral process on Saturday.
He also alleged that armed political thugs in their hundreds had been imported from outside the state and were being haboured by some of the local government chairmen in hotels and houses of PDP chieftains in their domains.
Edeoga noted that the plans, designed and being implemented by highly placed people in the state chapter of the PDP was as a result of the outcome of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, in which the LP clearly won the votes for the presidential candidate, and also snatched from the PDP seven out of the eight House of Representatives seats in Enugu.
He alleged that their plan is to intimidate and disrupt elections in the strongholds of the LP candidate, particularly in most local government areas in the Enugu North senatorial zone. “We have it on good authority that the plans by these enemies of the state, is to strategically target many of the rural communities in the state, where, our intelligence has informed, that the disruption of voting and/or frustration of collation of results is their core objective.
“We have also been informed that major polling units with potential for huge LP votes have been identified, with armed and dangerous non-state actors, already briefed to do all within their powers, including deadly force and summary killings, to ensure that results in polling units are not collated and uploaded to the INEC server, using the legally prescribed instrument of the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BIVAS).
“Areas being targeted specifically for attacks and delays in deployment of materials by thugs include: Okpara Square, School of Dental Technology, Achara Layout Primary School, Idaw River Primary School and Igbariam Primary School, all within the Enugu metropolis
“For Isi Uzo, Uzo Uwani, Igbo Eze North, Igbo Eze South and Udenu Local Government Areas, we have been reliably informed that the council chairmen for these council areas have all hired thugs and already habouring them in some hotels and residences of senior party officials in their respective areas,” he stated.
Edeoga, therefore, called on the security agencies to take proactive steps in arresting the attempts by the PDP to steal the election using desperate means, saying, “From the look of things, what the PDP is preparing for is not an election, but war. It is war against the people of the state; war against democratic progress in Nigeria, and war against the popular will of the people.
“We are making this call because we are also aware that these men are being armed and prepared to operate freely, appearing in Police, Army and Civil Defence uniforms; a decoy that would enable free movement for them across the state and to all the areas targeted for their planned attacks,” he stated.
He also alleged that some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been recruited to ensure the success of the plans. He said: “We have it on good authority also that part of the plans by the powers that be in Enugu State, is to work in cahoots with the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the LGA Chairmen and the leadership of the PDP, to tactically and dubiously delay the distribution of electoral materials from the Central bank of Nigeria to the Local Government Areas of the state.
“The strategy is to work with the transportation logistics services providers to find one excuse or the other to delay the transportation of these sensitive materials, ensuring that they don’t get to the polling centres early enough, or not even get there at all for people to cast their votes.
“We, therefore, urge the Federal Government to immediately order the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), to urgently conduct an audit of the guns, arms and ammunition that were legitimately approved for the Enugu State Government for use by the Forest Guards and the State Vigilante Services, and ensure that every weapon so approved and acquired are duly and fully accounted for before Saturday’s elections.
“We are also appealing that all election materials for the elections are transported to all the local council areas in the state, two days before Election Day, to help avoid the planned intentional delays of arrival of electoral materials.
“The good people of Enugu State want credible, free and fair elections and do not deserve the violence and possible bloodletting as being planned by the PDP.”
