…Say it’s false, baseless, mischievous
Three political parties
in Enugu State have denied the allegation by the factional chairman of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mr. Ben Nwoye and
Director-General of Senator Ayogu Eze campaign organization, Hon. KGB
Oguakwa of an alleged plan by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to hand over electoral materials to the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of March 9 governorship and House of
Assembly elections.
Reacting to the allegation, which was
published in a national daily, the state chairman of the PDP, Hon.
Augustine Nnamani stated: “It is shameful and an insult on the people of
Enugu State that a party (APC) whose ambition is clearly in disarray
and which has not been campaigning in the State could come out to make
such outlandish and regrettable allegation”.
The PDP chairman
added that “APC leadership had openly boasted that it would use “federal
might” to win the gubernatorial elections in Enugu State”, stressing
that “it is curious that the same party has now turned round to
shamelessly and falsely accuse federal institutions of complicity in a
phantom conspiracy with the PDP to deny it victory in the upcoming
polls”.
In a related development, the state chapter of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and its Governorship Candidate, Chief
Hon. Emma Nwankpa, expressed “utter dismay over the spurious and
baseless media report”, stressing that “as one of the major stakeholders
who have been deeply committed and involved in all the processes of the
elections, APGA Enugu State chapter, wishes to state categorically that
the allegation is false, baseless and mischievous”.
According to
APGA, “we wish to state that our agents actively participated in the
inspection and distribution of all the electoral materials at the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Enugu”, and “they duly and formally
reported to our party that the exercise was transparent and that no foul
play was encountered as mischievously alleged by the APC”.
The
party, therefore, advised “the APC and its members not to undermine the
peaceful political atmosphere in Enugu State and the genuine efforts by
INEC and the security agencies to prosecute transparent, free, fair and
credible governorship and state assembly elections on Saturday”.
On
its part, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) faulted the allegation by
APC, stating that it was a failed attempt by the party to sway
sentiments in the face of imminent defeat at the polls.
The party’s chairman, Hon. John Nwobodo, further called on the Nigerian public to ignore the “needless distraction”.
Further
reacting, the PDP Chairman said:”Ordinarily, we would have ignored
these spurious claims, more so, when credible rebuttals had been made by
both INEC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). However, we feel
obliged to make this clarification to keep the records straight and to
alert our people to the notoriety which the APC has acquired in
spreading lies and unfounded rumours, ostensibly to cover up for their
dismal performances in Enugu State during the last presidential and
National Assembly elections which were adjudged by INEC-accredited
observers as being free, fair, peaceful, credible and transparent.
“For
a party whose governorship candidate could not win his booth in the
last presidential elections, it smacks of utter mischief that APC could
make such claims which, at best, were as defeatist as they were
childish”.
Hon. Nnamani equally urged “the good people of Enugu
State and the general public to discountenance this mischievous antic of
a drowning party (APC)”, and enjoined the electorate to come out en
masse to exercise their franchise during the elections.
Source:- Dailypostng
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