The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised an alarm that members of ethnic militias and ex-militants are now dressing in police and army uniforms in order to unleash mayhem on opposition candidates and their supporters, as well as to disrupt voting, especially in the south-west, without hindrance.
In a statement issued in Lagos today, just a day before tomorrow’s presidential and national legislative elections, the APC’s national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, alleged that members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) were sighted at Owu-Elepe in Ikorodu local government area on Friday morning sporting fake police and army uniforms. Mr. Mohammed said the development confirmed the party’s early warning that fake uniforms of various security agencies were being sewn in the capital city of a southwest state.
The APC also alleged that ex-militants had been issued with fake military uniforms and deployed to some areas of Lagos, especially the Lekki-Ajah axis, to foment trouble.
The APC stated that numerous ex-militants in military uniforms were moving around in unmarked private vehicles, adding that their assignments were being facilitated by security agencies.
“In his national broadcast to the nation on Friday morning, President Jonathan said he is under oath to protect the lives of all Nigerians and the security of the country at all times. How can he do that when his supporters have engaged the services of ethnic militias, whom they have clothed in police and military uniforms, to engage in violence and election manipulations?” the APC questioned in their statement.
The party added, “If indeed the President means what he said, when he warned in his broadcast that ‘all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that any persons who breach the peace or cause public disorder during or after the elections are speedily apprehended and summarily dealt with according to our laws’, then he should immediately call his supporters to order and direct the security agencies to arrest those going around in fake police and military uniforms.”
The APC has also alerted the nation to the ruling party’s brazen actions to rig the elections in Rivers State, where all original result sheets have been removed and photocopied to pave the way for the PDP to write fake results of the elections in the state. According to the APC, there were similar moves to manipulate the elections and engage in massive thumb printing, starting on Friday evening, with purchased PVCs, not just in Rivers State but in the southeast as well.
The party disclosed that Emma Edeeyah, its agent at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, was arrested this morning without cause.
“These developments are worrisome and do not bode well for a free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections. We are therefore calling on local and international observers to pay a close attention to these desperate measures aimed at thwarting the will of the people,” the APC said.