TheCable

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of “working through” Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor, and Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo state governor, “to cause mayhem in the south-west before, during and after the general election in a bid to rig it”.

The main opposition party also accused the PDP of planning to disrupt its road show in Ekiti on Wednesday using thugs decked in APC T-shirts to infiltrate the rally and instigate violence.

It therefore called on security agents to be on the alert during the road show in Ekiti and indeed all through the southwest as the elections approached.

“Scared stiff about the success of the one-million-march in Lagos last Saturday and worried about the successful rally being repeated in Ekiti and elsewhere in the southwest, the PDP has perfected a devilish plan to cause mayhem during the Ekiti road show. The APC T-shirts being sewn by Mimiko will be given to their thugs, who will then be mandated to infiltrate the road show and start a fight,” the APC alleged in a statement issued by Lai Mohammed, its spokesman.

“Beyond that, the two ‘generals’ of the PDP in the southwest, Fayose and Mimiko, have perfected a scheme to take the military and police uniforms being sewn in Ado-Ekiti to Akure, where they will be worn by thugs for the purpose of intimidating APC supporters before and during the elections. Already a special task force under one Soji Bello has been set up in Ondo state with the express mandate of attacking and beating up all known supporters of APC in Ondo state while another team has been mandated to cause mayhem in the Hausa-dominated Sabo and Shasha areas of the Ondo State capital, Akure.

“Finally, the PDP ‘generals’ plan to cause their own ‘Boko Haram’ to strike in the southwest, after which some south-west based militias will retaliate against those purportedly behind the attack, thus triggering a region-wide mayhem. These plans are the outcome of all nocturnal meetings involving these PDP ‘generals’ and some other anarchists.”

The party said that it had decided to expose “these plans to put the nation’s security agencies on the alert, as well as to alert Nigerians and the international community to the evil machinations of those who were bent on triggering massive chaos and violence ahead of the polls.”

“APC is a very peaceful party. Not a single violent incident has been recorded at any of our rallies since the beginning of the current electioneering campaign. Also, despite the massive turnout of Nigerians for the one-million-man march in Lagos on Saturday, the march was violence-free,” it said.

“We therefore urge those who are doing everything possible to make a peaceful change impossible to realise that they are being watched closely by Nigerians and the international community, and for them to realize that there will be no hiding place for them either within or outside Nigeria if they carry out their dastardly plans. Today, the world has zero tolerance for perpetrators of mindless killings, chaos and violence.”