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APC ALLEGES PLANS TO ARREST KEY OPPOSITION LEADERS

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has raised an alarm about a plot by the presidency and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to weaken the opposition by using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to execute a series of arrests targeting key chieftains such as the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu and other financiers of the APC on trumped-up charges.

The party alleged, in a press statement released Saturday by its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, in Lagos that the plot also involves freezing the accounts of companies, individuals and organisations believed to be financing the party, with the ultimate objective of crippling the party so that it would not be able to sustain its activities like paying agents on Election Day.

The party also alleged that the plot is aimed at decapitating the main opposition party and checkmating its impending victory at the polls.

Making reference to the controversial documentary on Bola Tinubu aired on some television stations, the party alleged that this was the first step in the a series of orchestrated actions geared towards effecting the arrest of the APC national leader.

The opposition party stated that the widespread acceptance of the APC is the root cause of the desperation being exhibited by the Jonathan administration which has inspired the PDP to plot the arrest of Tinubu, who is considered to be the arrowhead of the opposition.

The APC also restated its allegation that the six-week postponement of the elections was orchestrated with the objective of slowing down the opposition’s momentum and giving the Jonathan administration time to regain lost ground.

It however asserted that the re-scheduling of the polls failed to achieve that objective, hence the PDP’s resort to new tactics of framing up of opposition leaders.

Also debunking the recent allegations levelled by the PDP in which key leaders in the APC were accused of being behind a certain APC Radio which is allegedly being used to destabilize the polity, the party said that the radio station is the handiwork of the ruling party.

“Their main reason for setting up the station is simple: To use it as another excuse to clamp down on our leaders,” the APC alleged.

“They are the ones who set up the station. They are the ones who announced its establishment to the whole country and now they are the ones who are trying to leverage it to arrest our leaders,” it said further.

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According to the party, the increasing resort to dirty tactic fits into the pattern of the presidency’s abuse of federal institutions, including the police, the military and the regulatory agencies, to harass and intimidate the opposition.

The party also stated that the recent events are proof of the desperation of the present administration, which it alleged is determined to make sure that Nigeria is plunged into chaos by sabotaging the elections.




     

     

    “As we have always said, this President is not interested in a free, fair, credible and violence-free polls. That is why it can even contemplate the arrest of opposition leaders on trumped-up charges, hoping that it will trigger a crisis that will either scuttle the polls or pave the way for anti-democratic forces to short-circuit our country’s democracy.

    “We are therefore using this forum to alert Nigerians to the evil machinations of the Jonathan government and the PDP to throw Nigeria into crisis. We also call on our country’s international friends to take note of the desperate tactics of the duo and to do whatever they can to prevail on them not to plunge the country into chaos,” the party further stated.

    The opposition party warned that any political crisis arising from the coming election would not augur well for Nigeria and Africa, adding that the country “must not be allowed to be plunged into crisis for whatever reason.”

    “This is because the consequences will be dire, not just for our country and her citizens but for the entire West African region and indeed all of Africa,” it stated.

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