Bauchi guber race: PDP, APC trade words over violence, rigging plans

AS preparations for 2019  gubernatorial race hot up, candidate of the of the main opposition party in the country, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, has alleged that the APC led administration under the State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubabakar is planning to cause violence, arrest arbitrarily the party’s supporters among others during the conduct of the general elections.

Bala Muhammad made the allegations at a press conference on what he described as, “Emerging issues concerning the General Elections,” held at Command Guest House, Bauchi.

The PDP Guber candidate also alleged that, “we have information from reliable sources that the state government in collaboration with some security agencies are planning to destabilise the elections through acts that are detrimental to the success of this elections, which we feel and believe if taken care of through public notice and information will help douse the tension.”

He added that “There are plans to arbitrarily arrest many of our youth without cause. This act will jeopardise and undermine the preparations done by our political party because some of these targeted youth are accredited agents for the various elections. The law can deal with anybody but it must be justified.”

The PDP candidate, a former Minister of the FCT, also alleged that in breach of security operations, the Governor is planning to post Mobile Police to all PDP strongholds in the state to scare people away not to come out and vote during the elections.

He further alleged that the state government in collaboration with some “unscrupulous” security agencies have concluded plans to brand some cars with posters of PDP candidates especially that of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, “and they intend to put arms in those vehicles and put them on the road and arm their agents who will drive those vehicles, parade them and blame it on the PDP candidates just to portray them as the culprit.”

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According to him, already the party has also discovered plans by the ruling party to rig elections in some selected Local government areas of the state, vowing that the PDP will resist any intimidation.

He said: “Let me say it categorically, that we are not afraid of anybody, we will resist any intimidation. We are law-abiding, however, if we are pushed to the wall, we will retaliate as we have to write to self-defence under the law, but we will continue to remain humble and we urge all citizens to be calm.”

The PDP gubernatorial candidate, who assured the people of the state of his resolve to fight for their right within the confines of the law, solicited their support for the victory of the party in the general elections.

Senator Bala Muhammad, therefore, cautioned traditional rulers against engaging in partisan politics and pledged to strengthen the traditional institution in their role of maintaining peace and harmony if elected.

However, the Bauchi State APC Chairman, Alhaji Uba Ahmad Nana, in an interview with newsmen in Bauchi, debunked the allegations by the PDP describing the allegations as, “baseless” and “unacceptable.”

He said that contrary to the insinuations, it was the PDP that rigged in previous elections where the party won saying, “The statement by the opposition PDP is baseless, unfair, and unacceptable, adding that, it is only trying to discredit the elections before it could even take place.”

The APC Chairman then revealed that such statements by the opposition are capable of causing unwarranted cloud over the election process in Nigeria, stressing that such statements undermine public confidence towards credible polls.