by Musa Abdullahi
The All Progressives Congress has alleged that ethnic militias and ex-militants are now wearing fake police and army uniforms so they can unleash mayhem on the opposition and disrupt voting, especially in the South-west, without hindrance.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said OPC members were sighted at Owu -Elepe in Ikorodu Local Government Area on Friday morning changing into fake police and army uniforms. It said this confirmed the alarm earlier raised by the party that fake uniforms of security agencies were being sewn in the capital city of a South-West state.
It also said ex-militants have been issued with fake military uniforms and deployed to some areas of Lagos, especially the Lekki-Ajah axis, to foment trouble.
APC said the ex-militants in military uniforms are moving around in unmarked private vehicles, and their assignments are being facilitated by security agencies.
“In his national broadcast to the nation on Friday morning, President Jonathan said he is under oath to protect the lives of all Nigerians and the security of the country at all times,” APC said. “How can he do that when his supporters have engaged the services of ethnic militias, whom they have clothed in police and military uniforms, to engage in violence and election manipulations?
”If indeed the President means what he said, when he warned in his broadcast that ‘all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that any persons who breach the peace or cause public disorder during or after the elections are speedily apprehended and summarily dealt with according to our laws’, then he should immediately call his supporters to order and direct the security agencies to arrest those going around in fake police and military uniforms.”
Meanwhile, the party has also alerted the nation to the brazen actions to rig the elections in Rivers State, where all original results sheets have been removed and photocopied to pave the way for the PDP to write fake results of the elections in the state. Similar moves to manipulate the elections and engage in massive thumb printing, starting on Friday evening, with purchased PVCs are also taking place not just in Rivers but in the South-east.
It said the APC agent at the INEC office in Port Harcourt, Emma Edeeyah, was arrested this morning without cause.
“These developments are worrisome and do not bode well for a free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections,” he said. “We are therefore calling on local and international observers to pay a close attention to these desperate measures aimed at thwarting the will of the people.”
