The party vowed to resist any attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use what it described as thugs or the army to win the Saturday, February 26, 2022 elections.
The Chairman of the party, Mr. Venatus Ikem, raised the alarm, yesterday, at the PDP Secretariat in Calabar, while reacting to APC’s claim that the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is meddling in the state politics.
Ikem said they got information from a reliable source that the governor personally visited the army commander in Calabar, asking him to deploy his men to Ogoja and Akpabuyo communities where the elections would be held.
He said: “At every turn, the APC has tried to use underhand tactics, especially trying to recruit thugs and even trying to utilise the instrumentality of official security, including the police, army and other special units, like Operation Akpagu, which is supposed to be an anti-robbery and anti-cultist units in the elections because they are under the governor and can be deployed to intimidate the political opponent.
“This is an election period and usually it comes with a lot of rumours, but we only respond to the information we know are from credible sources. However, it is their style.
“There is a legitimate way you can deploy the military and even other security agencies, and there are also illegitimate ways one can attempt to use them to intimidate voters. That directive can only come from the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). If the directive comes from the chief of army staff, it is legitimate, but from the governor? The governor went personally to meet with the Brigade Commander this morning to solicit for him to deploy men of the Nigerian Army for the elections. That is illegitimate use.”
When contacted to react to the allegation, the APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Erasmus Ekpang, said: “Obviously, it is just rumour, it may even be the plan of the PDP, not of the APC. Since 16th of February, we have been on the ground in Ogoja, Yala and Akpabuyo, we have all the videos, we have visited all the wards in Ogoja and Yala with a mammoth crowd receiving us.
“However, we have not sat anywhere to discuss deploying the military or any security agency. We have not seen any PDP campaign or rally on the ground, we even suspect that they are the ones that are planning to deploy the military.”
