Nigerian govt accuses opposition PDP of plot to orchestrate crisis, scuttle elections

The All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government has accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of plot to create crisis.

The administration, in a statement issued by Lai Mohammed on Tuesday, claimed that few days to the presidential and National Assembly elections the PDP was making “last-minute desperate plot to orchestrate a crisis and trigger a sense of panic among the populace, in furtherance of their plan to discredit the election and cause a constitutional crisis.”

The Minister said the plot confirms the alarm raised by the Federal Government on January 21 and February 3, 2019 that the PDP is “planning to scuttle the election and, where that fails, discredit it.”

He alleged that in the days ahead, PDP bigwigs, including its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his running mate Peter Obi, PDP Governors and others, were planning a world press conference in order to level frivolous and unfounded allegations against the federal government and the APC.

Alhaji Mohammed said that part of the false allegations to be levied against the government is that the Presidency, in connivance with the APC, is planning to force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce presidential election results that were favourable to the government in power.

He said the PDP bigwigs also plan to use their world press conference to further disparage the Buhari administration as well as the ruling APC, with a view to painting an unfavourable image, both to Nigerians and the international community, and to put the government on the defensive in the run-up to the polls.

The Minister said the PDP’s last joker is a two-hour live press conference to be addressed by the PDP publicity secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, on February 14, the last day of electioneering campaign.

”As electioneering campaign winds down, the PDP has realized that it cannot possibly win a free, fair and credible polls. It has thus resorted to engaging in red herring, hauling insults and abuses at federal government and ruling party officials and making outlandish allegations with a view to creating a sense of panic and crisis.

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”The truth is that President Muhammadu Buhari, a man respected globally for his integrity, has continuously assured that the elections will be free, fair, credible and peaceful. He has warmly welcomed observers, both local and foreign., because he has nothing to hide, and because he is sure that the achievements of his Administration will win him re-election.

”We are therefore calling on all Nigerians and the international community to disregard any attempt to scuttle or discredit the polls. We urge observers to keep an open mind. There is no cause for alarm, except in the warped imagination of the PDP, which has entered the panic mode and is already ruing the loss of another general election even before it has been held,” he said.

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