APC, PDP in Verbal War over Attacks on INEC Offices

By Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday engaged in war of words over the spate of attacks on the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

In a statement issued earlier yesterday, the PDP said it stood by its earlier assertion that the APC was behind the burning of offices of INEC in various parts of the country.

The PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan , accused APC of promoting acts of violence, including burning of INEC offices in other to build up an emergency situation and frustrate the smooth conduct of the 2023 general election.

“It is despicable that having realised that it has no place in the 2023 election, given its abysmal failure in governance, APC leaders are seeking to set our country ablaze and truncate our hard-earned democracy.”

“Our party wants the APC to know that May 29, 2023 date is sacrosanct for it to leave office, free our nation from its stranglehold and fizzle out from our political firmament,” the PDP stated.

It also accused the APC of destroying the country and opening it to bandits and terrorists, and also turning it to a killing field.

It called on the Inspector General of Police to immediately invite and question APC leaders over the burning of INEC offices.

But in a swift response, the ruling party described the PDP’s accusation as senseless and reckless.

The National Secretary of the

Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party, Senator John Akpanudoedehe stated this in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.

He said by using lies and sponsored media attacks on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government, the PDP has inadvertently shown its hands as sponsors behind the politically-motivated attacks on some public and democratic institutions in the country, in its desperate bid to destabilise this government.

Akpanudoedehe stated: “The senseless and reckless statement from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the attack on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reminds us of the judgment of King Solomon in the case of the two women claiming to be the rightful mother of a child.

The party recalled that it was the same PDP that attempted to discredit INEC and the entire 2019 election with a bogus tale of a server that never existed and employed hackers to disrupt the communication network of the electoral body during 2019 elections.

The Secretary noted that the APC cannot be at home and burn its house, saying a winner cannot destroy the process that brought it to success.