The deputy national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Uche Secondus, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of nursing a hidden agenda in their opposition to the deployment of soldiers for the upcoming general elections.
Secondus, who noted that the military as deployed in previous elections did not play an active role in the election process, warned that those who are kicking against the use of the military at this time of insecurity are agents of destabilisation.
The PDP chieftain also accused Rivers State governor, Chibuike Amaechi, of abandoning the state and using its resources to fund the presidential campaign of the APC flag bearer, Muhammadu Buhari.
Secondus, who hails from Rivers State, lamented that the private jet purchased by the state government has being converted to the property of Mr. Buhari, for his campaign.
Gov. Amaechi is the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organization.
Speaking against the background of the debate over the use of military for the elections, he said “I believe that it is not the first time the country has deployed military to safeguard not to conduct elections because if you see what happened in Ekiti State, the military was put at strategic positions in case there were uprising or thuggery. And that is what it is supposed to be.
“Whoever is afraid of security, whether army and police and wants to have their own private army to conduct the elections is the one that wants to throw this country into crisis and thereby destabilise the nation. Don’t forget America had predicted that there will not be a country in 2015 but God forbid.
“The PDP will support the government to make sure that they protect lives and property. Remember what happened in the first republic. No one was ready then but we have moved further, we have advanced now. The APC alleged that army was used in Ekiti, but the army was never used to rig election in Ekiti.
“And the report from the monitors shows that the election was free and transparent, the military were never found at the polling booth. They were strategically deployed for the unforeseen”.
He further described the purported confessions of Capt. Sagir Koli, an intelligence officer of the Nigerian Army, who in an audio recording said the military was used to help the PDP rig the governorship election in Ekiti State as cooked up, noting “whatever they cooked up as video was not in the day of election. And we believe and Fani-Kayode has said it was concorted by the APC. We also showed what happened in Osun where people were taken to a place and they were thumb printing. Such thing never happened in Ekiti State. So you can see the different”.
Speaking on the political events in his home state, Secondus said “the crisis in Rivers State is Amaechi. He shut down the court, and the gate is locked under key. He shut down the State Assembly and the gate is locked under key and he is now the sole administrator and maximum leader. Salaries are not paid as at when due, monies are taken away from the state to sponsor Buhari; our jet now is owned by Buhari”.
On the recent violence that botched the APC governorship campaign in Okirika, Secondus said “in the Okirika matter it was APC against APC. Amaechi is orchestrating it as if it is PDP and even bringing the name of the wife of the president. Amaechi has insulted the intelligence of the Rivers people. He is now permanent based in Lagos. He is no longer the governor. In fact the government in Rivers State has collapsed because Amaechi is no longer governing.
“What is important to him now is how as director general, is how APC will win. He has left the governance of the state, because when the doors of the legislature are closed, the judiciary which is the third arm of government is shut down, where is the government. Have you seen in this country where a governor will put a budget in a day and one hour after the budget is approved? Is that not a shame to democracy? And the man will come to the media and say he is democratic.
