PDP Has Imported Thugs To Disrupt Enugu Governorship Elections, LP Candidate Alleges

…Wants FG To Audit Weapon Procurement To Avert ‘War’

The Governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Chijioke Edeoga has accused the Peoples Democratic Party in the State of planning to use armed thugs to frustrate efforts at free and fair Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the State.

Edeoga in a statement he personally signed and released on Sunday accused the Enugu State government of distributing guns procured for vigilante security services in the state to party thugs in an attempt to steal the Saturday, March 18, 2023 elections by violent means.

The LP candidate called on the Federal Government to conduct an urgent audit of the guns which were approved for procurement by the Federal Government for use to augment the efforts of the conventional security services in the state, to avert what he described as “a war” on the people of the State.

He warned that if urgent steps were not taken to arrest the thugs that have allegedly been imported into the state to destabilise the polls, elections in the state could become bloody.

The LP candidate also accused members of staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of conniving with the PDP and officials of the Enugu State Government to delay the distribution of electoral materials.

He urged the Federal Government to mandate the electoral umpire to move all electoral materials from its storage at the Enugu branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria to all the LGA Headquarters in the state.

He said, “From the look of things, what the Peoples Democratic Party is preparing for is not an election, but a war. It is a war against the people of the state, a war against democratic progress in Nigeria, and a war against the popular will of the people.

“We are making this call because we are also aware that these men are being armed and prepared to operate freely, appearing in Police, Army and Civil Defence uniforms, a decoy that would enable free movement across the state and to all areas targeted for their planned attacks,”

Edeoga said the areas allegedly being targeted include Isi Uzo, Uzo Uwani, Igbo Eze North, Igbo Eze South and Udenu Local council areas and some parts of the state capital.

He called on security agencies to take steps to protect the integrity of the elections.

“We have it on good authority that the plans by these enemies of the state, is to strategically target many of the rural communities in the state, where, our intelligence has informed, disruption of voting and/or frustration of collation of results is their core objective.

“We have also been informed that major polling units with potential for huge Labour Party votes have been identified, with armed and dangerous non-state actors, already briefed to do all within their power, including deadly force and summary killings, to ensure that results in polling units are not collated and uploaded to the INEC server, using the legally prescribed instrument of the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BIVAS).

“We are aware that weapons, which were legitimately acquired by the Enugu State Government for use by the Enugu State Vigilante Services and the Forest Guards to support the efforts of the conventional security agencies in protecting lives and property in the state, are currently being distributed to political party thugs for use in destabilising the electoral process on Saturday.

“These thugs numbering in their hundreds have been aggregated from various places in and outside Enugu State to spread mayhem, fear, intimidation and even summary executions to feed the desperate and inordinate ambitions of people, whose only is to win elections,” the LP candidate added.

He called on all relevant authorities, particularly, the DSS and INEC to take every step necessary to ensure a free, fair, credible and transparent election.