The People Democratic Party has uncovered a fresh plot by the All Progressive Congress to rig the Akwa Ibom Local Government re-run election of Essien Udim.
The plot was made public in a press statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
According to the statement, PDP alleged that a serving Minister in Buhari's cabinet has allegedly enlisted the help of a Deputy Inspector General of Police to thwart the outcome of the re-run election.
"The minister has allegedly contracted a Deputy Inspector General of Police to deploy policemen to invade the local government, unleash violence and manipulate the electoral process in favour of the APC," the statement read.
The press statement also went further to reveal that the unidentified minister paid a bribe to the unnamed DIG in order to re-enact a similar scenario that won the APC Bayelsa State during the November 17, 2019 Gubernatorial elections.
The PDP raises alarm over an exposed plot by the @OfficialAPCNg to unleash violence on the people and rig the re-run election in Essien Udim Local Government of Akwa Ibom State slated for Saturday. pic.twitter.com/JF8id87p4s
— Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) January 23, 2020
Part of the strategy to gain control involves the introduction of a senior police Commissioner greater than the State Police Commissioner to enable the ruling party to gain control of not only the election but the uniform men.
In addition to these plans, the opposition disclosed that the alleged plot funded by the minister seeks to redeploy the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Iginni and replace him with a compromised INEC official, ignoring a FCT High Court order restraining Iginni from being redeployed.
"We are concerned about the plot to deploy huge number of policemen into a local government and put them under the control of such an officer as a DIG is extremely suspect, as past experiences across the nation had shown that such deployments lead to violent confrontations, killings, maiming and massive intimidations of voters that only aid election riggers and other anti-democratic forces to compromise electoral processes," the statement concluded.
