The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has alleged plans by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to compromise the Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and disrupt the governorship and State Assembly elections in Enugu.

But the PDP responded by saying the allegation is “the crying of a drowning man”.

The APGA governorship candidate in Enugu, Frank Nweke Jr., made the allegation at a press briefing, titled “Addressing pertinent issues regarding the Enugu State General Election of March 11”, on Friday in Enugu.

Mr Nweke alleged that PDP in Enugu State planned to influence INEC officials to bypass BVAS and disrupt elections to its favour.

He said he was compelled to bring the plan to the attention of the public because this could disrupt the governorship and house of assembly elections.

Mr Nweke claimed that PDP could achieve the plan through the use of thugs to cause mayhem with a view to dispersing voters at polling units in order to have the opportunity to rig the elections and subvert the will of the people.

He further alleged that the ruling party (PDP) in the state held a series of meetings at various locations to perfect their nefarious plans to ensure that they disrupt the electoral process, compromise NEC staff and deploy maximum violence.

According to him, a source, he did not name, attended the meetings and reported that the PDP officials lamented that they were falsely led into believing that BVAS is working effectively.

He noted that the events in Port Harcourt and some parts of the country during the February 25 Presidential Election had demonstrated otherwise, and that they must now take advantage of deploying sums of money to compromise INEC staff.

“They plan to sabotage the elections in Enugu and also to specifically ensure that the original result sheets are neither brought to the polling units nor the ward and local government collation centres.

“This is so since BVAS malfunctioned in the last election, they now reasoned that they would calmly write new results,” Mr Nweke alleged.

The APGA guber candidate further claimed that the PDP had told security agencies to stay away from the polling units so they can cause mayhem at polling units and collation centres.

“They have also produced Security Systems Uniforms for thugs to disguise as escorts to INEC personnel from the point of dispatch to a pre-arranged location where rigging will be carried out using the non-collected PVCs of voters across the 17 Local Government Areas,” he claimed.

Mr Nweke explained that his “revelation” was to let Ndi Enugu know that APGA in Enugu would do all that is possible to guarantee the safety of the people by ensuring that they exercise their right to vote on March 11.

“We will see that your vote is protected. We will not take lightly any plans to subvert or abuse the democratic process,” he added.

When contacted, the Director General (DG) of the PDP Campaign Council in Enugu, Ikeje Asogwa, debunked the allegation, describing it as “the crying of a drowning man”.

Mr Asogwa said the party had no business in the manipulation of election results and BVAS or working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said, “Nweke feels that he is about to lose,” adding that “we don’t have the capacity to manipulate BVAS,” saying that INEC’s concern should be how to ensure that the election is free and fair.

On the use of thugs, the PDP DG said they don’t have such plans, challenging Mr Nweke to show evidence.

“Nweke should stop throwing unsubstantiated allegations on PDP,” Mr Asogwa warned. 

(NAN)