The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused Governor Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of perfecting plans to “compromise” the March 18th gubernatorial election in the State through the use of fake Army officers by intimidating and harassing voters who intend to vote for the APC governorship candidate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Delta State APC Publicity Secretary, Valentine Onojeghuo Esq.
The APC said, “That in furtherance of this perfidious plans, the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, had directed the requisitioning of all Hilux cars of governmental ministries, agencies and Parastatal are now being branded at an undisclosed location within the State, in the camouflage army colours and be deployed to convey these fake army officers in military fatigues to various polling units across the State, with the sole aim of intimidating voters and truncating the free will of Deltans in exercising their democratic rights.”
“We have every reason to believe that these fake army officers are political thugs and miscreants who have been recruited by the Okowa PDP administration from neighbouring PDP states of Edo and Bayelsa States, whose governors are noted supporters of the State Governor Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, with the directive to ensure the suppression of votes in the State, particularly in Delta central senatorial district.
“Recall that before now, the Delta State APC had raised the alarm of plans of the Okowa PDP administration to use all manner of political subterfuge and intimidation to compromise the governorship and house of assembly elections in order to maintain the hegemony of the PDP in Delta State.
“This is more, particularly the fact that the State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, having realized that his cockamamie schemes of inducement of civil servants and other voters in the State with payments of ten thousand naira to individuals accounts and other forms of enticements have dramatically failed to yield the desired results, now opted for a more crude and sinister plan that portends deadly consequences for the security of voters in the State.
“Still suffering from the pains of his woeful and ignoble defeat at the presidential polls that put an end to his ill-fated vice presidential ambition, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has thrown caution to the wind and is fixated on pushing through his more desperate life and death modus operandi approach in order to scare voters away from the electing their preferred candidate in the person of HE Sen Ovie Omo-Agege as the next governor of Delta State and illegally installing his hand-picked successor, Sheriff Oborevwori with the intention of providing a buffer zone to ward off potential investigation and prosecution for his unparalleled acts monumental corruption andembezzlement of Delta State funds running into over 85 billion naira, which has been used to acquired multi-billion naira mansions in the USA, Nigeria and the establishment of a commercial bank in the State.
“These information are to say the least, indeed troubling and poses a clear and present dangers to our cherished democracy and we are left with no other option, then to urge the hierarchy of the Nigeria Army to take every concrete steps not only to ensure the security and safety of voters in the State, but also to conduct a thorough and sweeping investigation of this wicked and evil attempt of the Delta State Governor Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to shamefully compromise the free will of the people of Delta state to voluntarily elect candidates of their choice in the forthcoming governorship elections”.
Source: Daily Post