Oyo State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, has condemned what he calls “the serial acts of desperation” of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leader, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, in their “desperate bid to win the governorship election at all costs and avert a looming defeat.”
Handshake Campaign Organisation (HANCO), which is Lanlehin’s campaign group, made the condemnation in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Protocol, Mr Lanre Ogundipe, and made available to newsmen in Ibadan, on Monday.
Lanlehin alleged that, from reports reaching him, APC, through information it got from Trademoni forms filled in by unsuspecting members of the public, was cloning Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in some designated locations in Ibadan, particularly in Ibadan North Local Government Area.
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“The locations where this is being done are currently being heavily guarded by thugs bearing all manner of weapons, and cover provided by branded buses of the party’s candidate. Those buses also serve as transit equipment for arms and ammunition.
“You will recall that on the Tradermoni form, there is a request for beneficiaries to fill in their PVC numbers. One can only align oneself with deductions by Transparency International (TI) which already dubbed this fraudulent Tradermoni scheme a vote buying trick,” Ogundipe said.
He added that the ruling party had deployed armed thugs to clampdown on ADC members and candidates, having realised that ADC remained the party to beat in the election.
“Members of our party, on the campaign train of Honourable Olusumbo Olugbemi, member representing Oluyole Federal Constituency, were shot at on Saturday, 26 January 2019, at Apete Awowo, by APC hirelings.
“Similarly, a sympathizer of our party, who was pasting our posters in front of his father’s house at Apete area was attacked and beaten to a pulp. The case was reported at the Divisional Police Office at Apete. Even in Badeku, in the Lagelu Local Government Area, on Friday, 25 January 2019, some of our members on the ward to ward campaigns were waylaid and beaten mercilessly by APC thugs,” he said.
The Lanlehin campaign organisation stated further that members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were being used to destroy Lanlehin’s billboards and campaign ensigns in prime locations in Ibadan on the orders of the APC.
Reacting to the allegations, the spokesperson for the APC in the state, Dr Abdul Azeez Olatunde, said the ruling party was the first to report to the police that opposition parties vandalizing the billboards and posters of its candidates.
“The opposition parties destroyed our billboards in about 17 different locations in Ibadan. We reported to the police because our government has embraced peace and security of lives and property is our first achievement of the Governor Ajimobi-led government.
“What will interest you is that where our billboards were destroyed, coincidentally, you either have billboards of ADC, PDP, ADP within 10 metres radius that were untouched.
On cloning of PVC, he said: “the opposition parties are the ones guilty of this. They are the ones giving people money across the state. I would have named the people that were called and approached and their locations, if not for the security of those people because they could attack them.”
“We know we have the love of the people and the people are with us. We don’t need to rig to rig. The opposition parties are the ones planning to rig, but we will stop them. People have seen President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abiola Ajimobi have done and will return APC,” he said.
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