Four political
parties under the auspices of the Coalition Of Political Parties in
Kaduna State, said they have uncovered plans by the Peoples Democratic
Party in the state to intimidate and blackmail gubernatorial candidates
of opposition parties and their key campaign officers.
The parties
comprise the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN).
At a joint press
briefing in Kaduna Monday, the state chairmen of the ANPP, CPC, Can,
and PRP, Lawal Aliyu, Ahmed Yaro, Muhammed Soba, and Haliru Umar,
alleged that information available to them indicates that the ruling
PDP in the state is trying to rig the April elections by all means,
using INEC and the security agencies working in the state.
“The plans,
according to the information, include inducing the Nigeria Police,
Kaduna Command, INEC Kaduna Office, the SSS, and the NSCDC Kaduna State
to intimidate, harass, and disenfranchise supporters of the opposition
candidates as well as rig the general election in favour of the PDP.
“The political wing
of the police code-named ‘Operation Yaki’, solely established and
financed by the state government, is mainly to intimidate the
opposition and has received additional funding to enable it execute
PDP’s ‘nefarious agenda,’” the parties stated.
They alleged that
the PDP plans to plant card-carrying members of the party as
adhoc-staff of INEC in the April general elections.
“We the coalition
of political parties, Kaduna State, strongly warn INEC to ensure that
genuine staff of the commission are recruited for the successful
conduct of the April elections. Primary school teachers or local
government staff should not be engaged in the exercise,” the coalition
said.
When asked about his party’s response to the allegations, chairman
of the PDP in Kaduna State, Yau Usman Jama’a, denied knowledge of any
such issues, saying “I don’t know anything on this.”
