The Abia Unity Vanguard, a non-governmental and non-partisan organization whose aim is to monitor elections across the state has unveiled plots by a group of PDP governorship aspirants to cause crisis and disrupt the governorship primaries scheduled to hold on Saturday, May 25th, 2022.
An intelligence report received by the group says, that some aspirants who felt that they have been rejected by the delegates and are now in a panic mode have concluded plans to disrupt the election process using armed thugs imported from neighboring states of Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states to create panic around the election ground and put fear on the delegates, sensing that they will be voted out of the contest if the process is allowed to go freely.
The report revealed that their plan is to reject the 3 man ad-hoc delegates elected by the party and stop them from participating in the election knowing that the party and the electoral umpires will resist such unconstitutional moves, they will go ahead to invite the heavily armed thugs into the election area to cause a spontaneous and massive crisis by releasing sporadic gunshots and physically attacking or even shoot people standing on their way just to ensure that the elections do not hold.
Before now they have tried to use the courts, and have also resorted to different tactics such as protests, false allegations, and propaganda to arm-twist the party into rigging the process in their favor having failed in their desperation, have resorted to violence as their last resort.
The group is therefore calling, on the state government, the security agencies, the Peoples Democratic Party, and Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure adequate security and protect the delegates from being harmed by these desperate politicians who have been holding clandestine meetings on how to disrupt the primary elections.
We, therefore, appeal that It is in our best interest to ensure there is peace knowing that those behind this plot know that they will not win elections if there is peace.
Abia, has always been a peaceful state and this election will come and go and the state will remain, We, therefore, call on all security agencies to be on the lookout for these desperate politicians so as to prevent a breakdown of law and order in the state.
Sign…
Iheanacho Nwakwuribe
Secretary
Abia Unity Vanguard
