TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the federal government of releasing over “N6 billion loot” to leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as part of an alleged plot to rig the general election.

In a statement on Tuesday, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, said the looted funds would be shared among APC candidates contesting for senatorial and house of representatives positions in the national assembly as well as other leaders in the party.

The PDP spokesman said the funds, originally meant to cater for internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, was being diverted to rig the legislative elections in the favour of the APC.

“Information available to our party shows that each of the 109 APC senatorial candidates received N20 million, the 360 APC House of Representatives candidates are being given N10 million each, while various amounts are being disbursed by the Buhari Presidency to some other APC leaders for the rigging plot,” he said.

“The looted fund are to be used by the APC to dress fake security agents, arm thugs and bribe compromised INEC officials and manipulate the elections in the various Senatorial and Federal constituencies across the country.

“Intelligence at our disposal indicates that part of the money was sourced from alleged diversion of funds meant for the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various states of the federation.

“This is in addition to monies allegedly siphoned from some income generating agencies, including the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).”

The PDP spokesman described the alleged rigging plot as a “callous act of wickedness and impunity,” adding that the Buhari presidency was “busy frittering our national resources to finance its vicious plots against the already impoverished citizens”.

“Such impunity and recklessness of the Buhari Presidency is directly responsible for the economic hardship, poverty and escalated bloodletting in our country in the almost four years of the Buhari administration,” he said.

“The PDP therefore charges Nigerians to be alert and continue to rally behind the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the all-important quest to rescue our dear nation from the clutches of the corrupt, dictatorial and incompetent Buhari administration, which now seeks to truncate our electoral process and derail our democracy.”