Stop Peddling Lies on A’Ibom Election Tribunal - APC berates PDP

• Opposition party: APC has confirmed its role in tribunal arm-twisting   

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has advised members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to have confidence in the nation’s judiciary and to stop peddling “lies” about the work of the Akwa Ibom State governorship election petition tribunal and the role of the security agencies in the state.

Lai Mohammed

Making the call monday at a press conference held in Lagos, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who said the PDP was carrying out an orchestrated misinformation campaign about Akwa Ibom State governorship tribunal and the Directorate of State Security (DSS), said the opposition should deploy more energy to making their case at the tribunal rather than whipping up sentiment.

“The PDP has recently been engaged in what is undoubtedly an orchestrated campaign of misinformation on the proceedings at the Akwa Ibom State governorship tribunal as well as embarked on a calculated move to denigrate the security agencies, especially the DSS.

“It is not by accident that the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, has led a cacophony of other PDP voices that have been shouting themselves hoarse in an effort to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians and distort the real situation with regard to the governorship election petition by the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Umana Umana.

“Those who are following in the footsteps of Secondus to peddle lies include the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh; Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State PDP, Mr. Paul Ekpo, and the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko.

“In what amounts to turning the truth on its head and crying wolf where there is none, the PDP has pointedly accused the APC of working with the DSS to upturn the state governorship election purportedly won by the PDP. That is the summary of all their mindless and meaningless accusations,” Mohammed said.

He explained that the DSS recently invited the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Austin Okojie, and some other officials working with him to help in their investigation into the discovery that the commission had destroyed and attempted to destroy evidence in election petitions before the state election petition tribunals by shredding ballot papers, immersing them in water, mixing them all up and stuffing them in jute bags which are then left out in the open at the mercy of the elements, an action contrary to the clear instruction of INEC manual for election officers 2015 (revised version) Section 2.8.5, which requires that after elections, the ballot papers should be preserved unit by unit in sealed envelopes.

“This evidence was available to the DSS, which then launched investigation into determining those responsible for the criminal acts. The state of electoral materials discovered in the course of the forensic examination ordered by the tribunal was so bad that we now know why INEC, in concert with the PDP, did everything to stop the forensic examination of the ballot papers.

However, the PDP has said the APC  had accepted  its culpability in a number of anti-democratic actions of government agencies lately, particularly the mindless invasion of the Akwa-Ibom State government house and sundry interference in the activities of the state election tribunal.

The party said by attempting to explain the unlawful actions of the DSS, the APC spokesman, only succeeded in confirming that his party and the federal government, under President Muhammadu Buhari were behind the invasion and the hounding of election officials to compromise the Akwa Ibom governorship election tribunal and  take over the state.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said it had noted the weak attempt by the APC to defend the indefensible.

It said only “a desperate attempt at political shoplifting would drive the APC to engage in a miscarried effort to cover its culpability, by seeking to defend the condemnable actions of the DSS, a security and statutory apolitical organization, which has its internal system of public communication.

“By now Nigerians have become too familiar with the macabre dance by the APC spokesman, who has distinguished himself as a ‘renowned liar’; a shameless veteran in the ignoble art of deception.

“Our take is that the truth may be hidden for sometime, but it has a way of expressing itself to shame the guilty. We ask, what other reasons, other than a desperate cover up, would push a spokesman of a political party to stand in the gap to explain away the actions of the DSS when the security organization, has its own spokesperson and existing system of public communication?

“Is this not a confirmation of the fact that the DSS, under the direct command of an APC member, Alhaji Lawal Kaura, as Director General has since been politically annexed and working in cahoot with the leadership of the APC in its illegal operations in Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states?

“Perhaps, lacking in prowess to conjure believable fabrications to justify its dastardly actions, the DSS had to employ the services of APC master liar, who shamefully embark on excursions of falsehood.

“In fact, the contradictions in the claims in Alhaji Mohammed’s press conference betray it all. In trying to explain the invasion of the Akwa-Ibom state government house on behalf of the DSS, the APC chief propagandist controverted himself when he said, “we in the APC are not privy to the reasons for the DSS’ search of the Akwa Ibom Government House. However, we have no doubt that the security agency acted within its area of competence and authority’.

“We ask, if the DSS acted outside the knowledge of the APC as Lai Mohammed claimed, how would he validate his postulation that the agency acted within its area of competence and authority?

“Severally in the past, we have exposed the APC spokesman in terms of lying to deceive the nation. Recall that in May this year, Lai Mohammed nearly scuttled the transition programme when he issued a false statement alleging that the APC team was being frustrated, only for the head of the APC’s Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda to announce that there was nothing of such.

“This is the same APC National Publicity Secretary, who in June 2014 issued a statement alleging that a plane carrying the then Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti was denied landing permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs, Baba Dantiye to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti State.

“Our response to  Mohammed is that at his age, he should learn to be truthful, honest and desist from fabricating lies that could be injurious to democracy and peaceful co-existence in the country, especially as no amount of falsehood, blackmail, propaganda, threats and procured testimonies will help his party in its illegal quest to takeover Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states.

“While we recall that this is the same method deployed in the past by these same characters to rob us of our victory in some South-west states, we stand by our position in insisting on the sanctity of the judicial processes and caution that we will not accept any move by any person whatsoever to rob us of our electoral victory in states where the people freely gave us their mandates.”

Stop Peddling Lies on A’Ibom Election Tribunal - APC berates PDP