2019 election: PDP makes fresh allegations against Buhari, APC, INEC

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Director of Media and Publicity of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential Campaign Organization, Kola Ologbondiyan, has revealed alleged fresh plot by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the 2019 general elections.

The party, in a statement signed on Wednesday, warned INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, not to compromise the electoral guideline and pave the way for the alteration of the results of the 2019 general election to favour President Buhari.

He urged Yakubu to note that Nigerians are already aware of the pressure being placed on him allegedly by the Buhari presidency and APC seeking to force the commission to drop the display of results at the polling units as well as the electronic transmission of polled figures to INEC server from its guidelines.

Ologbondiyan added: “The Buhari Presidency is desperate to remove these requirements because the display of results at the polling units ensures that results posted at all levels remain those originally announced at the various polling units, while the electronic transmission to INEC server ensures that the results from the polling centers are not tampered with. PDP also demands that INEC allows both local and international observers to its situation room to ensure that the final figures are not tampered with.

“The APC and Buhari Presidency are mounting pressure on INEC to drop the requirements so as to pave way for their planned alteration of results and allocation of fictitious figures to President Buhari during the collation process.

“Prof. Yakubu must not succumb to the pressure of the Buhari Presidency, because doing so will definitely set him on a collision course with Nigerians.

“This demand has become imperative in the face of allegations and public apprehensions that the INEC Chairman is being offered humongous sums of money, running into billions of naira, by agents of the APC and the cabal at the Buhari Presidency to accede to their demands.

“Information at our disposal further reveals that the INEC Chairman has been under pressure from this group said to be coordinated by President Buhari’s blood relation in INEC, who, we are surprised, Prof Yakubu still allows around himself.

“It has further come to our knowledge that the INEC Chairman is contemplating the deployment of past National Youth Service Commission (NYSC) members for the 2019 election.

“The PPCO totally rejects this ignoble intention which is a ploy to use APC card-carrying members as polls officers.

“It is very instructive to state that the on going ASUU strike has not by any measure evacuated its members from the surface of the earth.

“Therefore, if INEC sought to use the members of ASUU for the 2019 elections, the on going strike will not be an excuse to deploy APC members.”