Concerned Abia Citizens, a civil rights group, has expressed worries over an uncovered plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to distort elections in Abia State during March 18 Governorship and House of Assembly Elections.
The Convener of the group, Honest Offor, made this known at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, stating that the group was privy to a voice recording from one of PDP’s henchmen, threatening to kill and suppress voters who do not dance to their tune.
Offor said the do-or-die approach of the PDP if not checked, was capable of truncating peace and democracy in the state.
According to Offor, the said threats by the ruling party were aimed at scaring voters away.
He said, “Whilst we are privy to clandestine meetings and attempts to corrupt electoral officers and security agencies, the clearest manifestation of PDP’s desperation and their evil plot, was revealed by the Managing Director of the Abia State Signage Agency (ABSA), Tony Otuonye.
“Otuonye, a ranking member of the PDP and a staunch supporter of Okey Ahaiwe, the governorship candidate of PDP, vowed that they will sacrifice anybody that stands in the way of PDP’s victory He threatened that they (and we believe he was speaking for his party PDP), will behead voters and cut off their organs if that is what it will take for PDP to win.
“We want the general public to recall that this is typical of PDP’s political violent gimmicks. In 2015 after the Court of Appeal rightly annulled the fraudulent election that brought Mr Okezie Ikpeazu to office, the PDP sponsored thugs to carry coffins with charms across Aba to intimidate and cow citizens into accepting the illegitimate process that returned Ikpeazu as governor,” the convener said.
He, therefore, called on security agencies to intervene and “take every necessary action to prevent PDP and their hirelings from carrying out their threats to kill voters suppress voters or subvert the will of Nde Abia.”
He further called on the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu to caution INEC staff in Abia “not to allow themselves to be corrupted or procured by the PDP to subvert the outcome of the gubernatorial election as any attempt to do this will be vehemently resisted.”
