By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was planning a mass arrest of top PDP leaders in Bauchi State through compromised security personnel.
A statement issued by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Saturday in Abuja, said the plot was to put PDP leaders out of circulation and enable the APC to rig the supplementary election in the state.
Ologbondiyan said that credible intelligence information to the PDP was that the APC wants to use political thugs and “compromised security agents’’ to storm polling units between 1p.m to 3p.m.
The allegation, according to him, was for the ruling party to snatch election materials and change results and take them to INEC office in Bauchi for collation and announcement.
He listed some of the PDP leaders earmarked for the alleged mass arrest to include Alhaji Bello Kirfi, Sen. Abdul Ningi, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, Sen. Isa Misau, and Salisu Ningi.
Others include PDP Bauchi State Chairman, Alhaji Hamza Akuyam; Ahmed Yerima, Samaila, Burgah, Aminu Tukur as well as PDP leaders and agents in the 29 polling units where elections were holding in the state.
Ologbondiyan, however, said that such underhand scheme would not deter the PDP from standing firm in resisting all aggression and consolidating on the party’s already established victory in Bauchi state.
“All our members are at red alert in monitoring the electoral process.
“We will never allow any alteration of results as delivered at the polling units and that nobody, no matter the machination deployed, can rig us out in this election,’’ he said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had halted collation of results for the governorship election in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi due to court order, which it pledged to vacate.
The commission said that supplementary elections would proceed in the other 15 Local Government Areas of Bauchi state as well as the Kirfi State Constituency Supplementary Election in Kirfi Local Government Area(NAN)
