PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government of using security forces, including special police and military units for elections in the country.
The party made this known in a statement on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The PDP warned the APC and its agents in the police and other security agencies that they should bear in mind that they are on collision course with the people.
The statement reads in part: “Such brazen assault on the will of the people, particularly as witnessed in the last Saturday’s Rivers State Assembly bye-election, is completely provocative, incendiary and has an unlimited capacity to elicit violent resistance from the people and derail our hard-earned democracy, especially as we approach the 2019 general election.
“We invite Nigerians to note that the use of security agencies by the APC to aid the subjugation of the people has become a regular practice as amply witnessed in the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election, the 2016 Edo state governorship election, the bye-elections in Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina and Cross Rivers and most recently, the River state Assembly bye-election, where special police units were used to manhandle voters, while providing cover for APC thugs to attack voters, snatch ballot boxes and disrupt the election.
“The APC, in its desperation, is resorting to this underhand means, because it knows that there is no way it can win in any peaceful and transparently conducted election in any part of the country, due to the public indignation against its dismal performance in the last three years.
“Our worry as a party, however, is that Nigerians are daily pushed to the wall and there is a limit to what they can endure, without resorting to violent resistance, particularly in the face of unrelenting subversion of their will and freedom to select leaders or representatives of their choice.
“The APC and its agents in the police and other security agencies should therefore bear in mind that they are on collision course with the people. Their eventual resistance, if such subversion continues, could come with very dire consequences.”