The Federal Government on Monday,
accused the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of having concluded
measures to discredit the upcoming general elections in the country.
The Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the claim in a press conference in Abuja on
Monday.
Here is full text of the Federal
Government’s claims against the PDP:
With just 12 days to the 2019
election, we have called this press conference to alert Nigerians to the evil
machinations of the opposition, which is not campaigning to win the election –
because they know they can’t win a free, fair and peaceful election – but are
busy planning how to scuttle or discredit it.
Recall that on Monday, January
21st 2019, we alerted the nation, also via a press conference, to the plot by
some opposition elements to scuttle the 2019 general elections by instigating
widespread violence across the country. Of course we didn’t just make this up.
It was based on credible intelligence
We revealed that the plan to
scuttle the polls is part of moves to push the nation into a constitutional
crisis, with the plotters hoping they can leverage on that to push for an
interim government. When we raised the alarm, the opposition dismissed it. Of
course they were shocked to have been found out, so we understand their panic reaction.
To underscore the seriousness of
our alert, a week after our press conference, the National Security Adviser
(NSA) met with state governors to also inform them of this same plan to scuttle
the polls via widespread violence. As I said at my last press conference, the
alarm we raised is based on credible intelligence.
Today, still based on credible
intelligence, we can reveal that the opposition is moving a step further. They
are working hard to discredit the forthcoming election before, during and after
the polls.
Specifically, they are sending a
delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington,
DC, to push the concocted line that the Buhari Administration has perfected the
plan to rig the polls. They are therefore pushing for a rejection of the
results if the President wins re-election. They are also predicting carnage in
the event of the President’s victory.
Already, they have started flying
the rigging kite domestically. They have been engaging in incendiary rhetoric
and in making outlandish claims using several fronts, including the nebulous
Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) which, by the way, is nothing more
than a reincarnated Association for Better Nigeria (ABN).
Of course you all know the role
that the ABN played in the failed 1999 political transition process.
They have targeted, for attack,
the two key institutions that are most critical to the success of the election:
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police. They have
used every malleable and malicious personality to make wild allegations against
INEC. Their strategy is simple:
Discredit the election even
before it is held, and continue during and after the polls with a view to
convincing the West – which they believe they have won to their side using
lobbyist-propelled propaganda – that the election is not credible.
9. Some may ask: Why would the
opposition go to this length? The answer is simple: They know, and are
convinced, that they cannot win a free, fair, credible and peaceful polls. The
handwriting in on the wall for all discerning people to see. While President
Buhari has received warm and genuine reception and adulation from huge crowds
everywhere he has gone to campaign, their candidate has been exposed to
apathetic and thinning crowds! Their numbers just don’t add up!
On our part, we as an
Administration are undaunted by their antics, even though we believe it is
necessary to expose their evil plans – as we have been doing – to the world.
President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly stated his commitment to ensuring a
free, fair and violence-free election. He has no doubt – based on testimonies
of change from Nigerians – that the achievements of his Administration, in the
three cardinal areas of fighting corruption, revamping the economy and fighting
insecurity, will speak for him at the polls. He did not rig his way into office
and has no need to rig now that he is in office.
We are therefore compelled to
alert Nigerians and the global community to the following:
The desperate opposition is doing
everything possible, including instigating widespread violence as well as
relentless attacks on key institutions, to discredit the forthcoming election.
They know they will lose the election, but they want victory by subterfuge.
To further their plan, the
opposition is dispatching a 10-member delegation to some Western capitals,
including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to sell the idea that the Buhari
Administration has perfected the plan to rig the election. They have no
empirical basis for the idea they are pushing, beyond relying on exploiting the
nation’s ‘fault lines’ of religion, ethnicity and regionalism.
The opposition is approaching the
election with an incredible level of the infamous Association for Better
Nigeria (ABN), under the guise of CUPP, to engage in unrestrained
rabble-rousing and frivolous court cases. Of course, the activities of CUPP in
recent times are there for all to see, even though the coalition seems to be a
very poor imitation of the original ABN.
The Buhari Administration is
committed to a free, fair, credible and peaceful polls. We are glad that local
and international observers are already fully mobilised to monitor the
election.
We call on all Nigerians to be
vigilant as we begin the final countdown to the election. Eternal vigilance, as
the saying goes, in the price of liberty. We must not allow desperate
politicians to crash our democracy on the altar of their personal – and
sometimes inordinate – ambition!
I thank you all for your kind
attention. I will now take your questions, strictly on the issues that I have
addressed.
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Haba APC, these statements should have come from d opposition & not from d ruling party
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