The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of perfecting plans to abduct its leaders and disrupt the Saturday, February 26 bye-election in Ngor/Okpala State Constituency.
The PDP claimed that there is a plot by the APC-led administration to disrupt voting in polling units across Ngor-Okpala, by stationing 10 hoodlums per polling unit, to perfect the plans of rigging the election.
In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Emenike Nmeregini, the PDP claimed it has it on good authority of the plan by the APC to arrest and whisk away notable PDP leaders in the local government area just to ensure no one stands on their way to rigging the state constituency bye-election.
Its statement reads; “The APC in Imo, realizing how unpopular it is and that it cannot win any peacefully conducted election, has now resorted to violence. The party candidate on Monday, 21st February, 2022 unleashed havoc on PDP supporters using hoodlums and militiamen and dispersed a PDP rally in Ntu Community in Ngor-Okpala.
“They threatened to maim anybody who dares to attend the rally. But of course, Ntu people resisted them and came out in their hundreds.
“The PDP notes with dismay the desperate move by Uzodimma to give ten bags of rice to each polling unit to entice the voters.
“We therefore condemn vote buying and undue inducement of voters in Ngor Okpala. It is unfortunate that the APC government which has brought untold hardship to lmo people, is trying to use food as a bait to catch votes. Ngor Okpala people are proud and hardworking, so their conscience cannot be bought with mere rice.
“Imo PDP therefore, wishes to use this medium to alert the security agencies in the state of the atrocities the APC plans to perpetuate in Ngor-Okpala and calls on them to move in and ensure a hitch-free election and the security of lives and property of the people.
“The PDP also uses this medium to call on the international community, civil society organisations and all lovers of peace and democracy to be at alert as APC plans to subvert the wishes of Ngor-Okpala people on Saturday, 26th February, 2022”.
The PDP however vowed to resist all forms of intimidation on her leaders and teeming supporters in the coming days ahead, during and after the bye-election as no one has the monopoly of violence.
It also called on Ngor-Okpala electorate to come out en masse on the day of election to collect their rice and money which are proceeds from our common patrimony, but vote PDP.
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