PDP must prove alleged plot by APC to disrupt 2023 polls, says Keyamo

Festus Keyamo, spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, says leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be invited by security agencies for questioning.

In a statement on Wednesday, Keyamo said the alarm raised by the PDP over an alleged plot to disrupt the elections  was part of the PDP’s way of diverting attention from the trending issues around the party.

The PDP, in a statement on Wednesday, alleged that the APC has directed its party members to “deploy violence and snatch power in the 2023 general election”.

The PDP had also claimed that the recent attacks on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities constituted part of the APC’s plans to derail the conduct of the general election.

Reacting to the claim, the APC spokesperson said the PDP must provide proof of its allegations.

“We note with concern the incoherent and convoluted press statement issued today by the ethically-challenged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yet again raising alarm about certain plots to incite violence and derail the 2023 polls and having ‘credible information’ as to those unleashing violence in certain parts of the country,” the statement reads.

“Based on its latest press statement about having ‘credible information’ about certain individuals plotting to derail the 2023 elections, including acts of arson already perpetrated on the facilities of INEC, we therefore call on the law-enforcement agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite the PDP leaders for immediate questioning.

“The PDP must provide information regarding: The place and time such a meeting took place and those in attendance; the identities of those who committed these acts of arson on the facilities of INEC. The information must also include the identity of those who sponsored these individuals (if any).

“The PDP should realise that an electioneering process is very serious business and not a time to issue baseless and infantile statements out of want of something to say to the Nigerian people. The Nigerian people have since grown weary of the antics of the PDP.

“We also state that this gimmick is nothing but crying wolf when there is none. We have said in an earlier statement on this issue some weeks ago that this is the same unnecessary scare-mongering tactics and crass vituperations they employed and engaged in before the 2019 election which led to their crushing defeat.

“We also said before and we repeat it here that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a thoroughbred democrat and one of the major architects of the democracy PDP and Nigerians enjoy today, so he should be the very last of the Presidential candidates to be accused of undemocratic conduct or underhand dealings in the electoral process.

“The PDP should not joke or play politics with grave security matters. Having ‘credible information’ as to plots and individuals relating to the attack on INEC offices currently, further plots to disrupt elections is, indeed, a matter of national security.”