By Amuda Dan Sulaiman Fab.
A pro-democracy group, the Democracy Must Survive (DMS), has cried out over plans by top Kogi State Government officials to massively rig Saturday’s bye-election in Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency.
Specifically, the DMS in a Press Statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Messers Inusa Momoh and Ibrahim Sulaiman, fingered the Kogi State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Abdullahi Bello who they accused of planning to bring in over one thousand thugs from Kogi Central to disrupt election and cause crisis in the strongholds of its co-contestants.
The statement reads in part: “As we are writing this release to you now, there is intelligence report that the Kogi State government has planted card carrying members of the APC to be election Resident Officers (ROs) while Presiding Officers (POs) who are supposed to be Youth Corps Members would be replaced with APC members who would be kitted in the uniforms of Youth Corpers to perpetrate the election fraud.
“Also, intelligence reports have it that the state government is also sending some top government officials to man some polling units.
“Although, we have instructed our members across the federal constituency to chase away any government officials who have no business in the area.
“They want to ensure that this election is compromised and the wish of the masses is aborted. We in the Democracy Must Survive will not allow this daylight robbery to happen.
“Those who want to rig election in Lokoja/Kogi federal constituency should be very careful as our people will ensure that they do not succeed. Let there be credible election and the wish of the people be allowed to prevail. A word is enough for the wise,” the group warned.
