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The ruling People's Democratic Party accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of
complicity in alleged plans by the opposition All Progressives Congress to sabotage next year's general elections.
This follows reports that the opposition party was using INEC's facilities during its ongoing nationwide registration
exercise.
In a hard-hitting statement on Friday, PDP officials slammed the reports and urged INEC to act.
"We wish to condemn this brazen hijack of INEC polling booths for a partisan membership registration. The
unlawful use of INEC polling booths is a clear violation of laid down electoral norms and rules that safeguard their
sanctity for the purpose of elections and against illegal conversion for partisan reasons.
"Indeed we find it shocking and curious that INEC whose responsibility is to safeguard against this sort of
aberration has not only kept mum as the APC fraudulently uses its name for this infamous agenda but has folded
hands in the face of this abuse and illegal conversion of its property, therefore, raising suspicions of duplicity in
this well orchestrated design to sabotage the 2015 general elections," Olisa Metuh, PDP National Publicity
Secretary, stated.
He said PDP had plans to use a "fraudulent membership" registration exercise to "hype a phantom public support
after which it will declare a particular bogus figure and create a false impression of massive public followership
ahead of the 2015 general elections."
"To achieve this, the APC officials and members have been going round the wards and polling centres, using INEC
polling locations and materials as well as lying to unsuspecting Nigerians that the party's membership
registration is an INEC voter registration exercise for the 2015 elections. This is to hoodwink them into registering
as members of APC.
"We reliably gathered also that in the states controlled by the party, pupils and students are lured or persuaded to
get the passport photographs of their parents and guardians, which are thereafter secretly affixed to the APC
membership forms without the knowledge of the innocent students or their parents," Metuh alleged.
He said PDP wished therefore wish to inform Nigerians that the APC membership registration was not an INEC
organized civic exercise as they had allegedly been made to believe.
"We further wish to urge all Nigerians, especially the civil society and all lovers of democracy to be on their guard
and resist attempts by the APC to urreptitiously use foul means to buoy up the membership base of a political
vessel, whose captains are contrastingly inclined but selfishly united in quest to capture power, through fraudulent
and violent means and thereafter, divide the people and take us back to Egypt," said Metuh.