We’ll dismantle your rigging machine, PDP tells ruling party

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday told the All Progressives Congress, APC, that it would, henceforth, resist every effort aimed at compromising fairness and credibility in future elections, beginning with the Osun governorship election in September.


The party said it had become manifest to Nigerians and all parties that the APC was only interested in rigging elections brazenly, noting that it would contend with the ruling party in the forthcoming elections

The PDP also noted that it had thoroughly reviewed all infractions, barefaced suppression, and the use of security forces and compromised electoral officers to rig elections against it since the assumption of office of President Muhammadu Buhari.

It vowed never again to allow the APC, acting in sync with the federal government, to continue to use foul means to usurp power as it had done in the past.

A statement issued by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday read: “The PDP has particularly reviewed the rigging of Edo state governorship election in 2016, the blatant rigging of the July 14, 2018, Ekiti state governorship election and the last Saturday’s federal constituency bye-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi states.

“The review shows that the PDP won in all the elections but was viciously manipulated out by the APC- controlled federal government through the instrumentality of violence against PDP agents and supporters, vote buying, use of thugs, ballot snatching, harassment, arrests and maiming of PDP supporters in addition to use of compromised electoral officers to cancel votes belonging to the PDP, alter results from polling centres and then return APC candidates as winners.”

Meanwhile, the party has directed governors elected on its platform, officials at state and zonal chapters, national and state assembly members and all other elected leaders at all levels to prepare to go to Osun State to monitor the conduct of the governorship election slated for September 22, 2018.