Opposition in Washington, Brussels, London to discredit polls -FG

• Says INEC, Police targeted for attack

• It’s lies from pit of hell- PDP

By Ese Awhotu and Lateef Ibrahim

With just 11 days to the 2019 election, the Federal Government has raised an alarm that the opposition parties are plotting to discredit the elections.
Government said it has fresh intelligence on the evil machinations of the opposition and everything it is doing, including instigating’widespread violence as well as relentless attacks on key institutions,’to discredit the forthcoming election.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed who raised
the alarm at a press conference yesterday in Abuja, said government identified the two institutions marked for attack by the opposition as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police.
He accused the opposition elements of working hard to discredit the forthcoming election before, during and after the polls.
The Minister said that the opposition parties are, specifically,.sending a delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to push the concocted line that the Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the polls.
He alleged they (the opposition) are pushing for a rejection of the results if the President wins re-election.
“To further their plan, the opposition is dispatching a 10-member delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to sell the idea that the Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the election. They have no empirical basis for the idea they are pushing, beyond relying on exploiting the nation’s ‘fault lines’ of religion, ethnicity and regionalism.
“They know they will lose the election, but they want victory by subterfuge,” he said.
The minister said , “ the opposition is approaching the election with an incredible level of desperation. In this regard, they have activated their own version of the infamous Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), under the guise of CUPP, to engage in unrestrained rabble-rousing and frivolous court cases. Of course, the activities of CUPP in recent times are there for all to see, even though the coalition seems to be a very poor imitation of the original ABN.”
He said the opposition was not campaigning to win the election – because they know they can’t win a free, fair and peaceful election – but are busy planning how to scuttle or discredit it Recall that on Monday, January 21st 2019, the Federal Government alerted the nation, also via a press conference, to the plot by some opposition elements to scuttle the 2019 general elections by instigating widespread violence across the country.
Lai Muhammed said, “we didn’t just make this up. It was based on credible intelligence.We revealed that the plan to scuttle the polls is part of moves to push the nation into a constitutional crisis, with the plotters hoping they can leverage on that to push for an interim government. When we raised the alarm, the opposition dismissed it. Of course they were shocked to have been found out, so we understand their panic reaction.
“ To underscore the seriousness of our alert, a week after our press conference, the National Security Adviser (NSA) met with state governors to also inform them of this same plan to scuttle the polls via widespread violence. As I said at my last press conference, the alarm we raised is based on credible intelligence.
“ Today, still based on credible intelligence, we can reveal that the opposition is moving a step further. They are working hard to discredit the forthcoming election before, during and after the polls.”
However, he said the Buhari administration is committed to free, fair, credible and peaceful polls.
“We are glad that local and international observers are already fully mobilised to monitor the election,” he added.
He called on all Nigerians to be vigilant as we begin the final countdown to the election.
In a swift reaction to the government claims, the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dismissed the allegations, describing them as lies from pit of hell.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan said that the Minister of Information was fond of accusing the opposition of planning to do what the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, is planning to do. He urged Nigerians not to believe anything the Minister says any more.