The All Progressives Congress Youth Vanguard, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has alleged plans by the Peoples Democratic Party to hijack the governorship and the state House of Assembly elections on April 11.A petition sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, a copy of which was sent to the Inspector-General of Police and the Department of State Security Service on Friday, asked Jega to intervene in the matter urgently to forestall electoral violence in Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking on the petition, titled, “Plot by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, to rig the April 11 Governorship and state House of Assembly elections,” the group’s State Coordinator, Dominic Robinson, who spoke with our correspondents in Uyo on Saturday, vowed that the group would not tolerate what they experienced during the Presidential and National Assembly elections on March 28.
The petition read, “We want to use this medium to alert you and bring to the notice of Nigerians and the International Community the plot by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State to rig the forthcoming governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State and the need for your urgent intervention to avoid any act that may undermine the electoral process and lead to an avoidable crisis in the state.
“On arriving Akwa Ibom from Abuja, where he went to condole with President Goodluck Jonathan over the loss in the presidential election, Akpabio on Thursday April 2, met with PDP chieftains and supporters in the Government House, Uyo.
“At the said meeting, the governor was quoted as saying that PDP members should remain committed to the cause they had championed on March 28 during the Presidential elections in the state.
“This cause they talked about includes ballot box snatches, falsification of results, removal and diversion of original result sheets to homes of PDP chieftains and commissioners, where false figures were entered into the results sheets, intimidation and attack on perceived political opponents, inducing and compromising NYSC ad-hoc employees to subvert the will of Akwa Ibom people.
“The governor went further to state that already, he has concluded arrangement with the Police, the Army, the SSS through the State Director of the SSS and the security operatives to support their rigging plan to take out the original result sheets from INEC on or before Thursday, April 9, with a view to filling in the original results sheets at yet to be named strategic locations in the state prior to the commencement of election on Saturday, 11.”
The governor was further said to have instructed his party faithful to ignore the use of Card Reader for accreditation.
According to the statement, the governor explained that arrangement had already also been concluded to hijack all election materials from both the state and in all the INEC offices located in every local government area of the state.
Akpabio, in the said meeting, was opined to have said that the decision (win at all costs or die) was taken to prove the point that the PDP holds sway in Akwa Ibom State. He added that the PDP’s success on April 11 polls would further lay the foundation for the readiness of the PDP to challenge the outcome of the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide.
