The PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, PPCO, Saturday condemned plan by the federal government to commence a nationwide military ‘Operation Python Dance’ describing it as part of moves to rig the polls in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party noted that the plot is in consonant with the desperation of the Buhari-led Presidency to foist a siege mentality on the nation ahead of the 2019 general elections, harass voters and create a sense of escalated insecurity, so as to stalemate the electoral process, given that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, cannot win in a free and fair contest.
In a statement by PPCO Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party argued that the military operation is geared towards unleashing fear on the people.
The statement read: “The PPCO, rejects this deliberate attempt by the Presidency to set our military on collision course with Nigerians, bearing in mind the collateral damage that usually occurs whenever the civilian population clashes with military.
“Our investigation shows that part of the plot is to use the military operation as a subterfuge to unleash heavy security presence to intimidate, harass and instil fear in voters in PDP strongholds across the country and pave the way for the allocation of fictitious votes to President Buhari and the APC.
Further investigation reveals that agents of the Presidency are working in cahoot with some compromised top officials of the Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to use soldiers to provide cover for diversion of electoral materials, as well as aid APC agents in their plan to unleash violence and disrupt the electoral process in areas where the PDP is winning.
In spanning the military operation to February 28, 2019, the Buhari Presidency betrayed its anticipation of public rejection or violence, which can only come when a result that does not reflect the actual wish of the people is announced.
Everybody in Nigeria and world over, including the Presidency, know the direction the 2019 presidential election tide is flowing and that Nigerians are eager for a new President, having lost confidence in President Buhari, due to his failures in governance.
Our nation is a democratic state and we are not in a state of emergency that requires the militarization of our electoral process. “Our military, which is cherished by Nigerians, should therefore foreclose any attempt by the Presidency to use it to set our country on fire.
All that Nigerians desire at this point is to go to the polls and peacefully elect a new President to reposition our nation and not another round of electoral crisis.
Moreover, the only threat to peaceful election today is the Presidency, which has been overheating the polity with its official high handedness, clamp down on opposition and desperation to rig the polls.”
VANGUARD
