National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Lai Mohammed
The All Progressives Congress says it has uncovered a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to frame the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in order to justify his sacking.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday that the PDP was plotting to deposit a huge amount of money into the bank account of Jega and make it appear as if the money emanated from Tinubu.
Mohammed said since the PDP had been unable to stop the use of Permanent Voter Cards and card readers, the next step would be a plot by the ruling party to attempt to undermine Jega’s credibility in the eyes of Nigerians so as to get him sacked.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to prepare their minds for the allegations that will soon be levelled against the INEC boss.
He said, “There is a plot to transfer a humongous amount of money into the bank account of the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and then claim that the money came from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the APC in order to justify the ongoing plan to sack Prof. Jega so that he won’t conduct the elections.
“Beyond Jega, there is also a plan to credit the bank accounts of some key national institutions with huge amounts of money purportedly from our party, the APC, ostensibly to compromise those institutions.”
The APC spokesperson said there was also a plan by some political parties—especially the ones that have adopted President Goodluck Jonathan—to push for the postponement of the elections until the fight against terrorism is won.
He, however, said the true intention of such parties is to ensure that Jega, whose tenure will end on June 30, is no longer in office.
He said, “There is a plan to use some political parties that are satellites of the PDP to push for the postponement of the elections again. The plot is to get the parties to address a press conference to say the elections should not hold in the North-East until September 2015 because of the ongoing counter-insurgency battle there.
“The intention is to make sure Jega’s tenure expires before the polls, so that they can appoint a malleable card-carrying member of the PDP as INEC chairman to conduct the polls.”
BY ENIOLA AKINKUOTU
