TheCable

The National Democratic Front (NDF) has accused Uche Secondus, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of “beating the drums of war”.

Secondus had said there will be crisis if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rigs in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But Bolaji Abdukadir, secretary-general of the group in a statement said such utterance was not justifiable under any circumstances in a country where there are laws.

‘”It will however seem that the PDP with its officials and chieftains are resolute on doing everything to undermine the elections, degrade their credibility even before they are conducted and reject results that they are already projected to lose,” he said.

“They see shadows behind every wall and have become pathetically hysterical to the point of handing the country over to foreigners.

“This hysteria on the part of the PDP and its mercenaries has put the entire country on edge with the constant sabre rattling over the election while creating the impression that it has to be a war situation of a do or die affair when the entire process is in reality about citizens exercising their right to decide who leads them.

“The PDP is aware of its low acceptability among Nigerian voters because of its record of wasted opportunities so it has now resorted to threats to force itself on the country. Constantly creating the impression that the general elections would be rigged in favour of the ruling party has therefore become the stock in trade of the PDP to the extent that not even its members take the party seriously anymore hence the ill-advised strategy of threatening war against the country.

“The implication of the threat from PDP is that it would unleash violence on the country when the results are announced and it loses fairly and squarely.

“Several groups with a few individuals and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had raised the alarm in the past that the PDP has perfected plans to cause widespread violence as part of a plot to force an interim government on the country because it knows it will lose the election. Secondus’ threat is the clearest confirmation yet that this plot is real and is now in its implementation stage.

“NDF consequently calls on the DSS and the Nigerian Police Force to  question Secondus to explain what he meant by declaring war. It is our belief that this matter should not be treated with levity given the earlier revelation that the PDP has positioned terrorists, extremists, separatists and foreign mercenaries to unleash violence in different parts of the country.”