Ahead of the December 5 Bayelsa State governorship election, a group sympathetic to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, South-South Elders Coalition for Justice, has alleged moves by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take control of all the states in the geo-political zone as well as other parts of the country.
The group alleged that the APC had concluded arrangements to win all future elections, citing the leakage of an alleged working document with which the ruling party wants to grab Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers states.
Addressing journalists, yesterday, in Abuja, the Chairman of the group, Boro Dokubo, disclosed that the PDP was worried that the National Working Committee of the APC could set up a committee to purportedly develop the document titled, “Political Penetration, South South/North Central Strategy Plan”.
According to the group, the document was designed by the APC to snatch PDP states through what it termed dubious means, adding that the script played out in the tribunal judgments in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states that started with the removal of Justice Pindiga as Rivers tribunal chairman to the outright cancellation of the gubernatorial election in the state and some local government areas in Akwa Ibom.
While condemning the role played in the preparation of the document by some prominent APC members including a serving governor of one of the North-West states, the PDP group urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on his party to respect the will of the people in the affected states.
The group warned the APC to desist from their alleged plans to cause mayhem in Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Kogi States, saying the people would hold the APC responsible for any act of violence or acrimony associated with the recommendations as contained in the leaked plan.
The PDP elders alleged that the APC document revealed plans to “capture and dismantle the South-South and further plans to rig the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.”
They added: “Worthy of note in the report was the well articulated tactics to carefully take over Rivers and Bayelsa States through the judiciary and indeed the entire South-South from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”.
The PDP elders, who noted that the document was the product of a committee set up by the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, said that its terms of reference include to identify the threat and opportunities for the APC in the regions where it did not perform well during the last general elections, examine the causes of the poor performances and suggest quick win strategies that will help the party build on its victory in such political territories.
According to the coalition, with APC’s moves to capture Kogi State, it has enlisted the services of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to perfect strategies to undo the efforts of the ruling PDP in the state.
The group pointed out that for the Bayelsa election, the APC strategists, in the document, recommended the removal of the current commissioner of police, the Director of Department of State Services (DSS) in the state as well as the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6 based in Calabar, all of whom it said are perceived by the APC as not friendly enough.
The group said that the APC was also pushing for the replacement of the state Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commissioner and deployment of electoral officers and senior presiding officers from other states.
