Coalition says PDP is partnering with Russia to rig presidential poll

As the presidential election edges closer, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been accused of desperation for power.

A group known as Coalition for Nigeria (CN) said this, alleging that the opposition party and Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate were plotting to hire Russian hackers to compromise the polls.

Dipo Samuel, secretary-general of the group, said Atiku has already released funds to facilitate his secret mission.

“When the then PDP aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, hired the United States firm and lobbyist, Brian Ballard to work for his emergence, we expressed concerns as to why the same man that helped US President Donald Trump to engage Russians in meddling with US elections has been brought into Nigeria,” he said.

“It is now glaring that this is not a transparent strategy. As part of the strategies being implemented, we further gathered that certain internal changes have been made at INEC to strategically position certain officials in posts that will enable them compromise that organization’s cyber security.

“These officials are known to be PDP sympathizers. Their brief is to make sure that the security upgrades that will ward off attempts to hack the Commission’s servers are not implemented. The plan is for them to feign administrative lapses and inefficiency that will ensure such patches are not addressed.

“This is really worrisome because such damaging campaign played a critical role in depressing Nigeria’s economy by discouraging investors’ interest in Nigeria. The PDP is again geared to repeat the same attack on the viability of the country.

“Coalition for Nigeria is therefore drawing the world’s attention to the rat infested firewood that the PDP has brought home by way of commissioning Russian agents to collapse democracy in Nigeria. We believe the whole world should be worried and seriously so:

“When the possibility of Russia’s meddling in the US Elections was first raised it was dismissed as mere suspicion by many while others placed such allegation in the realm of fiction. The picture is clearer today and there has been conclusive proofs that Russia did meddle in the process to make Donald Trump emerge president. What is still unfolding is the extent of damage done to the US electoral and political process as the fallout from the interference still reverberate in that country.”