APC Again : Federal Government planning trouble in Lagos, Imo, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Rivers and Kano states

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Federal Government to deliberately cause trouble in Lagos

and five other states on March 28 in order to avert defeat at the poll.

The opposition’s allegation was contained in a statement by the Director of Media of the APC campaign, Mallam Garba Shehu.

“Credible information available to the campaign from within the Federal Government has revealed that the PDP administration has hatched a plan to destabilise elections in APC states namely, Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kano and Sokoto in order to sabotage the presidential election and democracy in the country,” the party said.

Attempts to get a reaction from the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Prof. Rufai Alkali, were unsuccessful. Calls to his mobile telephone indicated that it was switched off.

However, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, dismissed the APC’s allegations.

“We will not dignify such wild allegations with a response,” the PDP deputy spokesman said.

The APC statement said the crisis to be fomented in the named states “is clearly intended to generate a crisis of serious proportions that would lead to either the postponement or the outright cancellation of the election in order to exclude the states from the first round of voting.”

It added, “By this plan, the Independent National Electoral Commission will be forced to cancel the elections and have these states conduct rescheduled elections a week later.

“The whole idea, according to these credible sources, is that the government wants to buy time yet again, gain energy and pump resources into a renewed crackdown on popular will in those states. They will deploy the entire muscle and resources of the Federal Government to steal the election in the six states.”

The APCPCO statement alleged further that “100 trained saboteurs” had been deployed to each of the states to carry out the “felonious acts.”