Group raises alarm over plot to rig Lagos governorship poll

Press statement

 

We are constrained to bring to the attention of Nigerians, particularly the media of plan to rig Saturday, April 11, 2015 Governorship and State House of Assembly Election in Lagos by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in collusion with some top military officers and some top official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in favour of its candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

We gathered that over N500million had been budgeted for this purpose by the APC.

Just as done in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections, the rigging involves causing late arrival of election materials and failure of the Smart Card Readers, SMRs, in areas where the peoples of South-South, South East and Middle Belt resides, so that elections will not take places in these areas.

Other areas to be affected include Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo and Somolu, considered as Peoples Democratic Party, PDP stronghold, as elections were frustrated in these places on March 28, to enable the APC rig the election on Sunday, March 29, when most voters had gone to churches.

You will recall during the March 28 elections, that the APC connived with some adhoc staff of INEC to frustrate the effective functionality of the Smart Card Readers, especially in over 90 mapped-out polling units where it is perceived the PDP has stronghold.

These areas are mostly dominated by non-indigenes. We must let Nigerians and the world know that the APC has hatched four plots in the Saturday poll. One is to threaten violence against non-indigenes if they don't vote for Ambode, so that they will panic and not come out on election day to exercise their franchise.

This was why the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu threatened that non-indigenes, especially the Igbos will be killed if they don't vote for his preferred candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode of the APC.

Second is to use thugs to snatch ballot boxes on Saturday with the military turning a blind eye. Third is a repeat the late arrival of election materials and INEC adhoc staff, so that frustrated voters will just go home without voting, and when the election is re-scheduled, the voters who would have voted would be in church.

Lastly, the APC has plotted to programme the card readers to record failure so that incident forms will be allowed for mass rigging.

Against the backdrop of these plots, we are calling on the Federal Government still led by President Goodluck Jonathan to compel the military authorities to re-deploy ‎top military officers deployed to the State countdown to the March 28 election.

We are also calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to investigate the movement of huge sums of money into the account of the INEC topmost official in question, as well as the military top officers currently in the state.

 

IPL Convener

Mazi Chigo Ukatah

8-4-2015

Photo credit: The Punch