John Alechenu and Olusola Fabiyi
The Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday alleged that there were plans by the Federal Government and the ruling All Progressives Congress to clamp down on the opposition.
It said that the plot would also affect the media and civil society organisations.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, who stated this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, alleged that the first leg of the scheme was to commence “a vicious intimidation and harassment of the PDP members who have refused to succumb to pressure to join the APC in their undemocratic quest to create room for a one party state in Nigeria.”
He added, “The PDP’s attention has been brought to alleged clandestine plots by certain agents of the Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress to clamp down on key members of the opposition parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“Part of this heinous plot is also to arrest members of the civil society, opinion leaders, the media and professional groups who refused to buy into the fabrications, lies, deceptions and propaganda of the APC and the Federal Government.
“The PDP is reliably informed that the plot against the opposition will be hinged on trumped- up charges of corruption, allegations of plotting to disrupt the processes leading to the 2019 general elections as well as alleged politicisation of security issues in the country.
“The first leg of this scheme is to commence vicious intimidation and harassment of the PDP members who have refused to succumb to pressure to join the APC in its undemocratic quest to create room for a one party state in Nigeria.”
Ologbondiyan alleged that this would be followed by arrests, detention as well as jailing of members of the opposition and others perceived to be opposed to the interests of the APC ahead of the elections.
In response, the APC dismissed the statement by the opposition PDP as an evidence of paranoia.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a reply to a text message on the subject said, “The PDP is getting paranoid. And this is quite understandable. Behavioural psychologists will tell you that paranoia is a possible symptom of a guilty conscience.”
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