PDP alleges INEC, APC plan to invalidate Wada’s candidature

By Tunde Opalana, Abuja 

Sixteen days to the November 16 governorship election in Kogi state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alerted the public of a plot to invalidate the candidature of its flag bearer, Musa Wada and bar him from contesting.

The PDP said it uncovered plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tamper with the party’s submission of candidate as contained in the report of the party’s governorship primary officially monitored by INEC.

Also, the party alleged that the ruling APC in the state has perfected plans to arrest 30 of its leaders and put them out of circulation to pave way for manipulation in favour of Governor Yahaya Bello of the APC.

Addressing the press in Abuja on Thursday, PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, cautioned INEC and the APC not to in anyway, attempt to alter INEC’s report on its governorship primary in Kogi state or attempt to tamper with its record of submission of candidate for the November 16 governorship election.

The PDP’s warning, he said, is predicated “on intelligence available to the national secretariat of our great party of plots by known INEC officers and certain APC leaders to alter INEC’s monitoring report and delist our candidate.

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“All in their desperate, but sure to fail bid to make Gov. Yahaya Bello a sole candidate and deny the people of Kogi state their desire to vote in Musa Wada as their next governor.

“Of course, this plot is dead on arrival as our candidate, remains duly nominated through the statutory processes of our primary, which was well covered in the monitoring report released by INEC. The PDP cautions that any attempt to tamper with his candidature will trigger the wrath of the people.” 

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The party said it is aware of every stage in the conspiracy against Kogi state as well as the actors involved.

 Giving details of the said plot, he said that “the PDP is fully aware of the details of the meeting between the INEC officials and the APC stalwarts on October 20 and October 21, at the INEC office in Lokoja, on how to alter INEC’s position in its earlier released monitoring report, which confirmed the validity and transparency of our governorship election primary.

“Our party has full details of how the APC leaders came to the meeting, which held at about 2pm in a black Toyota Prado SUV with covered plate number; how the INEC officials arrived 10 minutes later in a Kia SUV as well as the pecuniary transactions that followed.

“Information available to our party shows that an INEC public relations officer and a legal official of the commission were also at the meeting where they plotted how to ensure the alteration of the INEC’s monitoring report before November 1.

“The PDP has been further made aware of how the conspirators have recruited 205 APC loyalists, who are being trained at Muslim Community School, Lokoja, to impersonate NYSC members as polling and electoral officers in designated areas to enable the APC and INEC manipulate the process in such areas. 

“Now that these plots have been exposed and the conspirators already known by the people of Kogi state, the PDP cautions INEC to desist from any attempt to carry out the APC’s nefarious bid.”

To guide against electoral manipulations, the PDP said that the people of Kogi are ready and fully rallied to monitor all electoral activities in all polling units and all collation centres as well as to protect their votes up to the final declaration of results. 

Also, the PDP claimed that over 30 Kogi leaders have been listed for arrest by the APC so as to put them out of circulation and pave way for manipulations against the people.