The All Progressives Congress, APC, Campaign Council has described as ‘unfounded excuses’ statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Dino Melaye, that the ruling party is stocking thugs to cause violence during the November 11 governorship election.
Melaye had, earlier on Thursday, accused the APC of planning violence during the poll.
“Intelligence available to our campaign is to the effect that the APC has sewn fake Police uniforms (camouflage) which have already been brought into Kogi State and ready to be distributed among APC thugs to parade as policemen and unleash terror on innocent Kogites on election day.
“Further intelligence exposed that the thugs are allegedly being imported from Kwara, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states under the official cover by the Yahaya Bello administration to unleash mayhem and disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election, having realised that there is no way the APC can win in a peaceful, free, fair and credible electoral process,” Melaye stated.
Melaye dazed by PDP’s emptiness — APC
But reacting to the allegation, the spokesperson for the APC campaign council, Kingsley Fanwo, described Melaye as a man dazed by his party’s emptiness.
Fanwo stressed that the state government had tackled insecurity in the state and cannot be taken aback.
“Today’s allegations by the candidate of the empty People’s Democratic Party in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State, Dino Melaye, to the effect that the governor and the All Progressives Congress are shopping for thugs to disrupt the governorship poll is an archaic warfare strategy of accusing the opponents of your plans.
“It doesn’t hold waters in modern-day politicking that is built on mobilisation, conviction, strategies and aligning with the power of the people.
“As incongruent as the allegations are, it is important to state unequivocally here that as a party, we will deploy all legal, constitutional and administrative means to protect our victory that is certain owing to the massive acceptance of our candidate by the Kogi people.
“We are in the contest to win; free and fair. Some are in the contest to take donations to service their prodigal and irresponsible lifestyle while some are out to negotiate for the future.
“Dino Melaye whose ‘ticket’ set fire to the PDP, leading to the defection of key leaders and officials of the party at all levels, knows that he stands no chance in the forthcoming election, hence, his usual drama of raising false alarms and claims that do not exist. The game is over for him.
“We challenge the abandoned PDP governorship candidate to submit his claims to security agencies and be ready to defend them.
“With two senators, six House of Reps members, 22 House of Assembly members, 21 council chairmen and all the ward councillors in the state, APC has all the required political structure to win a free and fair governorship poll.
“Our governor has done so well that the people will endorse his party as they have always done since 2015.
“Our governor is known across Nigeria for his stance on security and how effective his security architecture has been.
“Anyone planning mayhem on November 11 will meet his Waterloo, as an attack on the governorship poll will be met with stiff resistance from the forces of law and security.
“We urge Kogites to be unperturbed by their fear-mongering attitude and come to outr en masse to pass a vote of confidence on the All Progressives Congress that has changed the face of the state for good.
“It won’t be about noisemaking at the end of the day. It is about what we have done for the people as the party in power and the quality of our candidate who is a successful accountant, auditor, public officer and a good family man.”
