By Ayo Kehinde
Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of PDP and his APC counterpart, Mallam Issa-Onilu
As voters and candidates in Saturday’s governorship election held in Bayelsa and Kogi states await the announcement of the final results by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the rival Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are trading words over the conduct and outcome of the polls
For the ruling APC, the party hailed the security agencies for the security arrangements put in place for Saturday’s Governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States and accused the PDP of importing hoodlums from Osun and Oyo to unleash violence in the states.
“ The subterfuge deployed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the election in both states, including the Kogi West senatorial rerun election was thwarted. As expected, not being in the tradition of PDP to thrive under orderly and credible electoral process, they did their best to discredit the process. We are glad that the voting processes came to a successful end in Kogi and Bayelsa states.”, said Mallam Lanre Onilu-Issa, National Publicity Secretary, in a statement on Sunday.
The party thanked “security agencies and other officials who did their best to minimize the impact of the PDP thugs whose sole agenda was to create chaos and scare voters from coming out to vote. Of course, the PDP did not achieve their objective of winning through violence.
“We note the effort by the PDP to employ their usual manipulation through ballot box snatching, massive thumb printing of ballot papers and vote buying. We also note for instance the video now in circulation of self-help ballot paper thumb printing at the polling unit of the PDP governorship candidate, Musa Wada and vote buying by the PDP’s Senatorial candidate, Dino Melaye.”
On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, accused the ruling APC of destroying the hope that Nigerians had in the democratic process following the what it described as the agony citizens went through on Saturday in Kogi and Bayelsa states trying to exercise their franchise.
According to Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the party, in a statement on Sunday, “the All Progressives Congress-led government trampled the nation’s democracy under foot with an utmost impunity that can only be obtainable in Hitler’s Germany and Samuel Doe’s Liberia, where the lives and rights of citizens meant nothing to suppressive power mongers.
He said citizens agonised as APC-controlled security forces allegedly aided armed hoodlums to invade polling centres, shoot and kill innocent citizens.
He also alleged that thugs invaded polling centres, shot and killed innocent citizens and also carted ballot boxes, stuffed them with already thumb printed ballot papers allegedly in favour of APC adding that the country was sliding into a dictatorship.
