…They Are Lying — APC
Loading ...From Msughshima Andrew, Makurdi
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Benue State has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC and it’s leader, Senator George Akume of sinister attempts, with inflammatory statements, to compromise the outcome of the rerun governorship elections to the favour of their candidate come Saturday 23.
But in a swift reaction, the All Progressives Congress, APC said it was all a lie insist that election rigging as alleged by the PDP was not part of the APC’s strategy and that they were optimistic of victory at the supplementary elections.
The PDP is equally calling on the Presidency, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, the DSS and other concerned agencies to call the leader of the APC in Benue, Senator George Akume “to order in the best interest of peace and security as well as the preservation of democracy.”
State Chairman of the PDP, Sir John Ngbede made these demands while addressing journalists at the party secretariat, in Makurdi.
Ngbede said such unguided utterances by senator Akume and other members of his party were undemocratic and capable of undermining the peaceful, free, fair and credible elections.
Sir Ngbede told newsmen that Senator Akume had boasted to his followers and Benue APC leaders that he has secured the backing of the Presidency which has authorised relevant security agencies, through their heads, to do everything possible to return Emmanuel Jime as Governor of Benue State at the coming Supplementary election.
The PDP chairman noted with dismay that George Akume boasted that Jime will be declared winner of the supplementary election whether the PDP’s candiddate, Samuel Ortom wins or not. According to him, Akume’s statement has also emboldened APC media handlers and supporters who are have sick then been airing his views all over the social media.
The PDP Chairman said given the 81,554 votes margin the PDP is leading the APC with, there was no such possiblilty of returning Emmanuel Jime as winner of the elections as claimed by the APC.
“APC is therefore not in any position to win the scheduled Supplementary Election of March 23rd and utterances by Senator George Akume and the party’s leaders that Emmnauel Jime will be returned as Governor of Benue State at that election are only capable of breaching the peace and order of the state leading into the day of the election.”
He called on the Presidency and others involved in Akume’s sinister plans to disassociate themselves from the “unholy” plans by the leader of the APC, so as to safeguard the image and integrity of the Presidency and their agencies
The PDP Chairman acknowledged the assurance of the Presidency that they were not going to interfer with the rerun elections even as they called for a peaceful atmosphere to enable Benue people turn out to exercise their franchise.
“Benue State has had enough of deaths and crisis, as such it should be the desire of all well meaning people in the state to avoid a repeat of crisis at the coming Supplementary Election.
“We restate the commitment of the entire leadership and members of PDP in Benue State to hitch-free elections, yet it must noted that while we, in the first and second rounds of elections, maintained peace and did conduct ourselves as such, the APC on the other hand were bent on perpetrating violence.
“Benue people deserve to be free to elect leaders of their choice and this can only happen in a credible and fair contest,” Ngbede said.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC through its State Publicity Secretary, James Ornguga has exonerated Senator George Akume from the allegations by the PDP, saying Akume, only made a public statement once when he lost out at the senatorial elections and it was aimed at encouraging voters to come out enmasse and vote in the governorship elections.
“So it has been a matter of PDP formulating stories and crediting it to him. But that is not even an issue to us. What the Benue APC is saying is very simple. The electoral guidelines spelt out clearly that where voting is conducted without the use of the smart card reader, it shall be counted as Zero votes and we are holding firmly onto that.
“So we are asking INEC to cancel those votes in Benue where there was no evidence that smart card readers were used. And we are very confident that when you cancel these votes our candidate will emerge victorious and that is our position.
“We have never boasted that we are going to win by hook or crook, but what we are saying is that, when you remove those unmerited votes that were given to the governor to establish a fake lead margin, our candidate will win and we are still optimistic that INEC would do that and we will win the elections.
