The All Progressives Congress, (APC) has raised alarm over the alleged scheming by the President Gooduck Jonathan administration and the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to push for another postponement of the 2015 general elections.

The party warned that the consequences of another postponement will be dire.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said the multi-pronged efforts to prevent the elections from holding as rescheduled include the use of some 23 portfolio political parties to seek a further shift in the election dates and the destabilisation of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC)’s election plan through the orchestrated removal of its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

It said the same 23 satellite parties of the PDP that were used to push for the six-week postponement have again started testing the waters by pushing for a further shift in the elections in the six-states of the Northeast, ostensibly to allow the conclusion of the counterinsurgency battle and also to allow those displaced to return home.

“The plan is to use the same bogey of insecurity in the North-east to push for another postponement in the elections. The signs are ominous indeed.

“The body language of the President and his party does not support the holding of elections. They are mortally afraid of losing because the use of PVCs and Card Readers have thwarted their rigging plans,” APC said.

The party said while the 23 parties are pushing for the elections to be further postponed, the Jonathan administration and the PDP are simultaneously forging ahead with their plan to remove Prof. Jega and replace him with a malleable acting Chairman whom, they believe, will do their bidding.

“Once they remove Jega, his replacement will either seek more time to organise the polls or simply jettison the plan to use Card Readers, thereby opening the door for those who have been buying up PVCs to use them.

“Is it not interesting that the same administration that has been flaunting free and fair elections as a key achievement has now gone for the jugular of the same man who organised those polls?

“Is the man they don’t want not the same person who organised the 2011 polls which the administration has described as free, fair and credible?

“What has now gone wrong between them and their poster boy for successful elections? It queried.

The party called on Nigerians, especially the civil society, to be vigilant in the days ahead, as the cloud of uncertainty becomes thicker and the vultures begin to circle.

It also called on the international community to consider imposing stiff sanctions on key members of the Jonathan administration if they force another postponement or scuttle the polls.

“We believe that Nigerians themselves bear the utmost responsibility for the success of their nation’s democracy and the survival of their country, and we commend those who have stood up to be counted in the ongoing battle to have free and fair elections.

“However, we also believe that the international community has a role to play in helping to check the desperadoes who are using the Laurent Gbagbo rule book as if it was made for them, and who will not hesitate to bring the whole system crashing down on all if that is what it will take for them to perpetuate themselves in power.

“Nigeria is too important to be toyed with or allowed to go under. For example, Nigerians make up more than 56 per cent of the estimated ECOWAS population of 300 million.

“A destabilised Nigeria, therefore, is a destabilised West Africa and, indeed, a hobbled Africa!

“That is why we believe a travel ban and tough economic sanctions from the international community against these agents of destabilisation will be in order. This is a patriotic call,” APC said.

But the PDP, in its reaction, yesterday denied the postponement allegation, even as it expressed confidence that it is coasting to victory in the elections with the level of its campaign so far.

At a press briefing in Abuja, the Director of the PDP Presidential Campaign, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said that the comment by the APC that the PDP is plotting to scuttle the general election could only be a product of hallucinating mind of the opposition.

“With the level of preparation from the party, from the campaign office and all the notable leaders of the party who are toiling day and night to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan, it sounds unbelievable that anyone could still be talking of scuttling the election.

“The APC is only hallucinating and I can tell you that the party has only seen their defeat and that is why they are putting out that information.” He said.

Chief Fani-Kayode also said that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s appearance at Chatham House last week was a last-minute decoy to divert the attention of Nigerians and the whole world from the fact that his trip to London was mainly to seek medical attention and care.

“The point we are making is that Gen. Buhari was not originally scheduled to go to Chatham House but in order to divert attention from the real purpose of the trip, the Chatham House speaking engagement was hurriedly put in place.

“The desperation of the APC leaders to grab power at all costs and by any means has resulted in them committing the most abominable and unimaginable form of fraud such as attempting to pass off an old interview which took place at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton Hotel by a known sympathiser of the APC whose name is Kemi Fadojutimi and who works for the USA-based TV show ‘All Eyes on Africa’, as one that took place in the United Kingdom and that was conducted by a so-called London based journalist.

“The APC propaganda machinery facilitated the publication of a picture of the interview, which they claimed took place in London, on the front pages of some newspapers.

“Indeed, despite desperate attempts by the APC propaganda machinery to coerce newspapers from retracting the fraudulent picture of Gen. Buhari’s purported London interview, The Guardian, one of the most respected newspapers on the African continent, who had printed the picture on its front page edition on Sunday, 22nd February, 2015, was quick to publish a retraction on page 2 of the newspaper’s Monday, 23rd February, 2015 edition,” he stated.

The party said it is reiterating its call on APC to make Gen. Buhari available for debates in Nigeria, if as it is been claimed, he performed very well during the Chatham House engagement.

•Adapted from National Mirror.

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