All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) have accused each other over an alleged plan to burn down the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Lokoja.
In a statement issued and Signed by Isaiah Davies Ijele, DG New Media MuriSam Campaign Council. SDP, he alleged that there are plans to burn down the office of the Kogi State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) situated in Lokoja.
The statement read as follows,”It has come to our notice via grave vines that there is an urgent need for security to be beefed around the Kogi State INEC office to avert the sinister plot to burn down the office by mandate bandits.
“We are calling on the relevant security formations to swing into action to prevent the burning down of that office and to secure all the Electoral materials used in the just concluded Gubernatorial election in Kogi state. They want to burn down the building housing those sensitive materials in the guise of a fire outbreak and with the aim of damaging all evidence of rigging.
“We would like the whole world to know that if anything happens to the sensitive materials as ordered by the court to be inspected by the solicitors of the SDP, Governor Yahaya Bello should be held responsible as the chief security officer of the state.”
However in a swift reaction, the Kogi State All Progressives Governorship Campaign Council called on the general public to hold the Social Democratic Party in the state responsible if anything untoward happens to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Office in Lokoja.
The Campaign Council said the party was convinced that the false alarm raised by the SDP over a purported planned attack on the INEC office was to cover up the party’s sinister motive of razing down the INEC Office and turning around to blame it on the APC “as they know they have no evidence to substantiate their characteristic lies about the credibility of the Kogi State Governorship Poll that has been adjudged as the best in the democratic history of our dear state.”
A statement on Sunday night, signed by the Director of Media and Publicity/Spokesperson for the Council, Kingsley Fanwo, said, “Their clandestine move to cover up their propaganda-fuelled claims about the election is well documented as we call on security agencies to fortify security around the Offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission across the state.
“No amount of propaganda can help their baseless, senseless, unsubstantiated claims after their scorecard at the Poll was at complete variance with their boastful pre-election posture. They have resorted to attacking INEC and everyone except themselves. Such is the sorry state of a party and its candidate who lacks the political pedigree to challenge the politically rooted APC in Kogi State.
“Despite their intimidation and blood-letting rampage in some parts of the state, INEC conducted a credible, free and fair election and the security agencies also ensured that the votes of the people counted.
“We commend Kogites for standing up to ethnic bigots by responding resoundingly with votes that reflected our unity as a people.
“No one is afraid of the legal challenge of the SDP. They failed to win the election, failed to steal ballot boxes, failed to disunite our state and our people. They were in the race to fail endlessly.”
The SDP had in a statement on Sunday claimed that it had uncovered plans to burn down INEC Office in Kogi.
“It has come to our notice via grave vines that there is an urgent need for security to be beefed around the Kogi State INEC office in order to avert the sinister plot to burn down the office by mandate bandits,” the party said in a statement signed by Isaiah Ijele, DG, New Media, MuriSam Campaign Council.
. TheWitness
