Borno Bye Election: PDP Faults APC Bandwagon Argument

Borno Bye Election: PDP Faults APC Bandwagon Argument
…Insists On Free And Fair Polls In Kogi, Bayelsa

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismisses as hollow, fallacious and
completely out of point, argument by the All Progressives Congress (APC)
in attempting to use the outcome of the 2015 general elections as a
premise to claim victory in the manipulated last Saturday’s Borno
Central senatorial bye election.

The party said the APC, by such argument, might as well forget about
contesting the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa state where
the ruling PDP won all contested positions in the 2015 general
elections.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on
Thursday said the APC, in its desperation has failed to realize that the
people are no longer excited about the fake change it offered and that a
space of six months is more than enough for the electorate to turn
against a political party that has failed in office.

“The scandalous resort by the APC to use security forces to frighten and
intimidate voters and electoral officers to sway votes in its favour, in
addition to other ploys made to set the stage for violence in the
process, clearly collaborate the fact that it has already lost its
support base in the country and particularly in the north.

“We are aware that the APC is already stretching its desperation to Kogi
as well as Bayelsa state where, in the attempt to create tension,
unleashed thugs on the campaign train of Governor Seriake Dickson on
Tuesday, an action that is a clear test-run of their machinery of
violence ahead of the Bayelsa December 5 election.

“Intelligence report available to us shows that this brazen attack on
Governor Dickson was not spontaneous but part of a well-hatched plot to
create an atmosphere of insecurity in the state, ostensibly to pave way
for their violence-driven rigging strategy, including the deployment of
APC controlled security forces to frighten and intimidate voters as was
the case in the Borno bye-election.

“The PDP wishes to state in clear terms that it would resist any attempt
by the APC to derail the peaceful conduct of the November 21 and
December 5 governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states
respectively.  It is on this note that we call on President Muhammadu
Buhari, as the leader of the nation and a huge beneficiary of the
credible election organized by the PDP, to take immediate steps to
rein-in his members, as their actions in Bayelsa state are capable of
triggering a resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta region.

“Let the APC be amply reminded that Bayelsa and Kogi states are clear
strongholds of the PDP and no amount of intimidation, threats and use of
force will bend the will of the people or detract from their support for
Governors Seriake Dickson and Idris Wada respectively. Moreover, the
people of these states are not in anyway ready or willing to accept any
results that do not, in full measure, reflect their wishes and
aspirations at the polls.