Ahead of the Saturday, March 9, 2019 governorship elections, the federal government has allegedly concluded plans to unleash special security forces on Sokoto state with a view to aiding the All Progressives Congress (APC) to massively rig the elections and undermine the will of the people.
The allegation is contained in a press statement in Sokoto by a member of the Sokoto Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Election Campaign Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Dattijo.
He said the party leadership in the state was in possession of vital documents made available by a friendly and reliable contact in one of the security agencies in Abuja.
According to Dattijo: “Very reliable intelligence sources revealed that the special security forces are drawn from the intelligence units of the different security agencies and have been instructed to “lock down” Sokoto state, provide security cover for top APC officials to move around Sokoto state on election day, as well as ensure that area boys operate at will without fear of arrest.
“We gathered that the FG is desperate to “capture” Sokoto state in the governorship elections in order to cover up its massive rigging in the presidential elections and to find a final solution to what APC strategists refer to as the “Tambuwal Problem.”
The PDP chieftain said: “Our sources further revealed that Sokoto state is one of the nine states pencilled down for security “lock down” during the governorship elections. Rivers and Taraba states are also on the cards.”
Also speaking on the development, Malam Abubakar Ahmed Bado, a Media Consultant to the PDP Campaign Council in Sokoto, confirmed that party leadership in the state are in receipt of the documents “which appear incontrovertible because of the channel through which they were transmitted”.
Malam Bado, however, expressed optimism that “all the antics, gimmicks or strategies of subverting the Sokoto electorate will fail woefully this time around.”
He said that counter strategies have been put in place by the party while the people who are still embittered by the rape of their vote in the National Assembly and Presidential elections will not allow a reoccurrence.
Other PDP chieftains in the state warned against any move to rig the election and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to live up to his words of allowing free, transparent and credible election by his calling his lieutenants and security agencies not to embark on actions that could lead to the breach of peace in the state.
