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Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed happiness over its ability to thwart the subterfuge deployed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the election in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
A statement by the party’s National Publicity, Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, commended security agencies for the arrangements put in place in the two states, urging its members to remain calm and peaceful.
Taunting the opposition party, the national leadership of the ruling party, teassed that PDP rigging machine failed it, noting: “ We note the effort by the PDP to employ their usual manipulation through ballot box snatching, massive thumb printing of ballot papers and vote buying.”
“The APC hails our security agencies for the arrangements put in place for Saturday’s governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States.
“We are aware of several hoodlums brought into Kogi from Osun and Oyo States few days before the elections, just as we monitored the grand preparation to unleash violence in Bayelsa.
“We are delighted that the forces of darkness have failed. The subterfuge deployed by the PDP to rig the election in both states, including the Kogi West senatorial rerun election was thwarted.
“In Kogi and Bayelsa, we were certain of securing the majority votes for the two governorship seats and the Kogi West senatorial seat. For this, we knew we must ensure a peaceful atmosphere for voters to freely turn out and exercise their franchise.
“As expected, not being in the tradition of PDP to thrive under orderly and credible electoral process, they did their best to discredit the process. We are glad that the voting processes came to a successful end in Kogi and Bayelsa.
“The party thanks security agencies and other officials who did their best to minimize the impact of the PDP thugs whose sole agenda was to create chaos and scare voters from coming out to vote. Of course, the PDP did not achieve their objective of winning through violence.
“We note the effort by the PDP to employ their usual manipulation through ballot box snatching, massive thumb printing of ballot papers and vote buying. We also note for instance the video now in circulation of self-help ballot paper thumb printing at the polling unit of the PDP governorshop candidate, Musa Wada and vote buying by the PDP’s Senatorial candidate, Dino Melaye.
“We thank all our supporters for standing their ground to protect the ballot and ensure credibility of the electoral process. While we wait for the collation process to complete and for the final results to be announced, we urge our members in both states to remain calm and peaceful,” the party said.
