APC PCC Accuses PDP of Alleged Plot to Incite Violence, Derail 2023 Elections

•Ask security agencies to invite opposition leaders for questioning

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of alleged plots to incite violence and derail the 2023 polls.

The Director of Public Affairs and Spokesperson of Tinubu/Shettima PCC, Festus Keyamo in a statement issued yesterday, called on the law-enforcement agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite PDP leaders for immediate questioning.

He said the call became imperative following the latest press statement issued by PDP about having ‘credible information’ about certain individuals plotting to derail the 2023 elections.

Keyamo noted that the press statement coming just barely 48 hours after one of its former officials was convicted by a court of law over illegal acts committed during an election which the PDP government presided over, was just a pointer to the lowest level of moral debauchery to which the PDP had sunk.

He said: “We note with concern the incoherent and convoluted press statement issued today by the ethically-challenged PDP, yet again raising alarm about certain plots to incite violence and derail the 2023 polls and having ‘credible information’ as to those unleashing violence in certain parts of the country.”

“It (PDP) operates without an iota of shame or respect for the Nigerian people. Instead of continuous apologies for those grievous acts of election rigging, money-laundering and other electoral malpractices, it continues to pontificate.

“Based on its latest press statement about having ‘credible information’ about certain individuals plotting to derail the 2023 elections, including acts of arson already perpetrated on the facilities of INEC, we therefore call on the law-enforcement agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite the PDP leaders for immediate questioning.”

Keyamo insisted that the PDP must provide information regarding: “The place and time such a meeting took place and those in attendance; the identities of those who committed these acts of arson on the facilities of INEC. The information must also include the identity of those who sponsored these individuals (if any).”

The ruling party said the PDP should realise that an electioneering process was a serious business and not a time to issue baseless and infantile statements out of want of something to say to the Nigerian people.

Keyamo added that the Nigerian people have since grown weary of the antics of the PDP.

He added: “We suspect that the latest alarm by the PDP is one of a long list of diversionary measures adopted by the party to deflect attention from its crumbling edifice.

“Just yesterday, the major leaders of the PDP in Katsina State led by a former Katsina State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Shehu Shema, and 10 out of the 14-member working committee of the PDP boycotted the party’s rally in the state and today they issue this statement to deflect attention from that disaster.

“We also state that this gimmick is nothing but crying wolf when there is none. We have said in an earlier statement on this issue some weeks ago that this is the same unnecessary scare-mongering tactics and crass vituperations they employed and engaged in before the 2019 election which led to their crushing defeat.”

The party reiterated that its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu remains a thoroughbred democrat and one of the major architects of the democracy the PDP and Nigerians enjoy today, adding that he would be the last of the presidential candidates to be accused of undemocratic conduct or underhand dealings in the electoral process.

It said the PDP should not joke or play politics with grave security matters, pointing out that having ‘credible information’ as to plots and individuals relating to the attack on INEC offices currently, further plots to disrupt elections was, indeed, a matter of national security.