The Kogi State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) planning to rig the May 4 local government election in the state.
But the state’s PDP chairman, Comrade Hassan Salau, described the allegation as the noise of those crying about defeat before the election.
He said the ACN should have thought of ways to convince the electorate on the election instead of crying wolf before the election.
Addressing reporters in Lokoja, the state capital, five ACN chairmanship candidates in the five local governments in the Central Senatorial District said the PDP had deployed some hoodlums to pose as electoral officers with the aim of rigging the election.
The spokesman of the chairmanship candidates and an aspirant for Adavi Local Government Area chairmanship seat, Major Ali Abdullahi (rtd) said nobody should expect a free and fair election, if the PDP could recruit bona fide members of its party as electoral officers.
He accused a PDP card-carrying member, who was said to be the driver of a PDP chairmanship candidate, of being the electoral officer for Adavi Local Government Area.
According to him, this is not only disgusting but also annoying.
The ACN candidates also alleged that the PDP was planning to divert electoral materials on the day of election to the homes of a serving commissioner, where voting would be illegally conducted and a fake result announced.
They said the PDP has recruited thugs in connivance with law enforcement agents to harass and beat up opposition supporters on the date of election.
The politicians urged Governor Idris Wada and the state’s Independent Electoral Commission (KGSIEC) to ensure a free and fair council poll.
Anything to the contrary, they insisted, may lead to the breakdown of law and order.
