The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party has disclosed that intelligence reports available to it have established the postponed Presidential and National Assembly elections were deliberately sabotaged by Muhammadu Buhari, and his ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In statement released Sunday afternoon through the party’s official twitter handle, @OfficialPDPNig the party stated that contrary to simulated stance by the Buhari Presidency and Adams Oshiomhole, chairman of APC, “fresh facts have confirmed that, the FG and the APC have been sabotaging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a well-orchestrated plot to engineer a staggered presidential election.”
According to the PDP statement, some individuals working on behalf of the APC in collusion with some of INEC’s staff, engineered actions that affected the distribution and delivery of INEC sensitive materials to designated locations, thereby frustrating the electoral process.
“We also have details of how a hired a team of data hackers corrupted the voters register, with a view to cause mass confusion and voters suppression on the election day,” PDP also claimed in its statement.
The party stated that many registered voters with Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) would have arrived their polling centers on Election Day, only to discover that their names have disappeared from the register in their units. This, supposedly as a consequence of the digital manipulation of the voters’ register.
PDP’s statement also indicated intelligence available to the PDP, details how agents of the Buhari Presidency infiltrated the distribution system and ensured that sensitive election materials do not arrive at the designated locations, with the views to stall elections in several states of the federation. This it says is in addition to deliberate swapping of sensitive election materials between different states & LGAs so as to muddle up the process & stall election in affected areas.
“In some of states like Edo, sensitive materials did not arrive at their designated points on APC interruption,” PDP said.
Identified by the PDP to have played a pivotal role in the election sabotage is Amina Zakari, a high-ranking INEC official alleged to be a relative of the president.
If elections had been conducted with the said logistical challenges, the end game was to have a staggered election “where the Presidency can use security agencies to subvert the will of the people at the polls”, claimed PDP.
This according to the PDP would have been executed by suspending elections in opposition strongholds, to enable the government deploy security agents in securing victory for the incumbent. A simultaneous, nationwide election as it appears, would make this less possible.
