PDP Behind N6.5tn 2023 Rigging Plan- APC

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has denied that the document in circulation showing that it has worked out strategies to use N6.5 trillion to rig the 2023 presidential election was from the party, instead it accuses the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of being behind the document it declared “fake.”

Felix Morka, spokesman of the APC told journalists on Monday in Abuja that the document was part of a smear campaign by the PDP.

“The APC wishes to place firmly on record that the document is not of the Party. We neither authored nor own any such document, and it certainly did not emanate from our Party” Morka said.

He alleged that “the document is the handiwork of very sick elements of the opposition,” the PDP, “In a desperate quest for unmerited electoral advantage by attempting to smear our Party with wrong doing.”

He added that, “In their zealous attempt to mudsling, the document’s authors senselessly alleged that our Party proposes to apply nearly half of the country’s entire 2022 budget to buy votes.

The Alleged Rigging Document

The 13-page document in circulation divided Nigeria into six geopolitical zones, listing four prominent members of the party from each of the zones that will receive funds for each zone.

It also named seven farmers’ organizations and multipurpose societies that will receive this fund which was broken down into N928, 668, 421, 154.28 (Nine Hundred and Twenty Eight Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty Eight Million, Four Hundred an Twenty One Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty Four Naira, Twenty Eight Kobo) for each of the organizations.

The complex document further provided for Coordination and Disbursement Committee as well as Funds Supervising Committee with each having six members.

Members of the committee include a state governor, a minister, two presidential advisers, among others.

It also carried out surveys of 22 states under the control of the APC. It shows that there are 110,306 polling units with over 29.804 million voters in those states.

Of the 14 states being controlled by the PDP, it identified that the states have 63, 481 polling units with over 17.14 million voters.

It aggregated likely votes other opposition parties with presidential candidates would poll, allocating a figure of almost one million votes with an anticipated 804, 330 void votes.

It arrived at the winning formula that going by the complex analysis which it said is scientific, the ruling APC will get a “winning difference” of over 11.66 million voters.

The document has as one of its sub-heads ‘Voters Inducement’, proposing that a special amount ranging between N10, 000 and N20, 000 per voter would be allocated.

It puts the entire voting population at 47, 748, 420, and went further to estimate the sum of over N1.909 trillion to be spent on the voters where each person will get N20,000.

The document then allocated over N153 billion for ad-hoc election officials, observers, security and defence forces as bribe to enable them look the other way.

As its pre-election plan, over N3.153 trillion has been allocated to be spent through programmes like Conditional Funds Transfer, Food Distribution, Free Fertilizer Distribution, Artisans and MSMEs Support Funds, Transportation Support Funds and IDP Support Funds.

The document also did not leave out election tribunal as it allocated N153.5 billion for expenses while APC Governors would be given over N730 billion.

Down the line,States and Local Government Area offices under the control of the APC will get N300 billion while APC Support Groups would get N100 billion.

The document explained that once the party spends N6, 500, 679, 948, 080, it will sure win the 2023 presidential election.

But Morka queried, “How in the world does a government operating a national budget of N17 trillion dole out N6.5trillion to rig elections? It clearly betrays the authors’ extreme ignorance of the complexity of the systems and processes for the appropriation and utilization of state funds.

“Only a party that is a masterful looter of the national treasury such as the PDP can even imagine another capable of engaging in the kinds of atrocious acts the document suggests”, he stated.