APC paying security officials to rig Osun poll – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is plotting to pay between N50,000 and N250, 000 as bribe to security officials to help rig the September 22 governorship election in Osun State.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday, said the move is aimed at suppressing the will of the people in the state, adding that any security agent found to have received such money would “face the music.”

“Nigerians, particularly, the people of Osun state, can easily see through the attempt to use the subterfuge of a huge election duty allowance to entangle our security officers and use them against the people.

“While the PDP has nothing against any effort to effectively mobilize our security officials for the election, our party totally rejects the plot by the APC to use the payment as inducement to manipulate the election.

“It is instructive to let the APC and the compromised security and INEC officials to know that the Osun people are already at alert; they are very anxious about this election and are fully rallied to use all legitimate means allowed in the defence of their mandate against violent assaults.

“The PDP therefore cautions the police officials to be on the side of the people, be fair and to learn from past experiences, where security officials who allowed themselves to be pitched against the people in elections, faced very dire consequences.

“Our position is predicated on reports that the APC-led Federal Government as well as the State of Osun are paying policemen between N50,000 to N250,000, as inducement, to assist the APC in its plot to suppress a free, fair and credible governorship election in Osun, as they did in the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship,” the PDP said.