Taraba NNPP accuses PDP of plans to destabilise Saturday’s polls

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

More political parties have continued to accuse the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Taraba State, of planning to frustrate Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
The recent accusation came on Wednesday from the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, during a media briefing in Jalingo when the party alleged that PDP has concluded plans to use fake security personnel to scuttle the exercise in the state.
The allegation was made by Director Media and Communication, NNPP Gubernatorial Campaign Council, Zakari Ahmad Nguroje who noted that the party’s attention has uncovered plans by “some disgruntled elements in PDP who are bent on using government machinery to cause chaos in the forthcoming governorship and Houses of Assembly elections in Taraba State.”
According to him: “[We] are fully aware of their motives to use fake military and police personnel in achieving their nefarious act; this can be done by recruiting political thugs as security officers handling events at the polling units or using state-owned security apparatus popularly known as marshall to cause mayhem during the election process.”
The party also accused the ruling party of an ongoing plan to “use money to lure electorate and election officials.”
“We reliably gathered that a large amount of money has been earmarked for each of the over 106 polling units in the state,” Nguroje claimed.
NNPP further alleged: “There is also a calculated plan to destroy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). This can be achieved with the help of some technical staff of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. There is also a plan to attack and destroy BVAS [and thus] disenfranchised citizens who are so eager to cast their votes, especially in strongholds of Prof. Muhammad Sani Yahaya, our governorship candidate.”
Recall that the leadership of the All Progressive Congress, APC, through the former Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, had also accused PDP and INEC of planning to jeopardise Saturday’s election in the state.
When contacted, the leadership of the PDP, through its spokesperson, Andeta’rang Irammae, said the party has no plans to rig or frustrate the exercise from holding.
Describing the allegations as “mere blackmail,” he said the achievements of the party in the last seven years are enough to make the PDP triumph at the polls.