The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Sunday raised the alarm of an alleged plan by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State to rig the March 2 governorship election in the state.
ADC raised the alarm in a statement issued and signed by the Director, Media, Publicity & Protocol, Handshake Campaign Organisation (HANCO), Comrade Lanre Ogundipe made available to newsmen in Ibadan.
The party alleged that the ruling APC in Oyo state is present engaged in “serial acts of desperation in its frenzied desire to win the coming governorship election, at all costs”.
“We wish to bring to the notice of citizens, residents and voters in Oyo State, the serial acts of desperation currently being perpetrated by the Oyo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in its frenzied desire to win the coming governorship election, at all costs, and avert its already advertised looming defeat.”, it said.
ADC alleged in the statement that “some, in a long list of other acts of brigandage, subterfuge and manipulation by the APC and its agents include: cloning of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at designated locations in Ibadan”.
“Reports reaching us indicate that in certain designated locations in and around Ibadan, particularly in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State APC has begun the massive cloning of permanent voter cards, using information sourced from the Tradermoni forms filled by members of the public.”.
The party stressed “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, vote buying.”
“As if bad isn’t bad enough, the state chapter of the APC has now latched into same, and is now cloning permanent voter cards, to be deployed during the coming elections. The locations where this cloning is done is currently heavily guarded by thugs with all manner of weapons, and APC’s branded buses
ADC alleged further that “in an unprecedented manner, never witnessed before in these climes, the Oyo State APC has resorted to the use of deadly weapons, and has begun shooting at not only our members going about peaceful campaigns, but also members of the public going about their businesses peacefully”
“Four cases resonate here; one person was shot at, at Agbeni market, on Wednesday 23 January, 2019, while passing through the area. It is to be recalled that the APC held one of its campaign in Agbeni market that day. As if that’s not enough, members of our party, on the campaign train of Hon Olusumbo Olugbemi, member representing Oluyole Federal Constituency were shot at on Saturday, 26 January, 2019, at Apete Awowo. 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 pulp. The case was reported to the DPO, Apete. Even in Badeku, in the Lagelu local government area of Oyo State, on Friday, 25 January, 2019, some of our members on ward to ward campaigns were waylaid, and beaten mercilessly. Only the intervention of members of the public saved them from death!”
ADC in the statement also alleged destruction of its candidates posters and billboards, saying, majority of our posters and billboards are either getting destroyed or being forcefully taken over. A very visible case of a destroyed billboard is the one in Gbagi, while the one on Alesinloye, one of our prime locations has been forcefully taken over by the state government, despite same being already paid for by us”
The party further accused the ruling APC in the state of engaging in alleged “bribing for endorsement”, claiming that “the most recent trick of the ruling APC is its resort to bribing significant segments of the society for the purposes of vain endorsements.”, adding, “we have it on record that a particular governorship candidate has been bribed to the tune of N50million, ostensibly to announce his withdrawal from the race, and back their governorship candidate. That candidate is to make the announcement in the coming week. Further to that is the attempt to polarise student groups in the state, having seen those ones are not backing their candidate.”
“These and many more are some of the already advertised evil acts of the ruling APC in its bid to forestall an already assured victory, and prevent the enthronement of a people’s government. We want to remind the APC, that we remain undaunted in this liberation struggle, and that whatever shenanigans the APC is planning, our people are always at the forefront of truncating same, because their love for our party, and our candidate is unflinching, and their support, unwavering!”
