Abia governor’s aide, Erondu, plotting to rig Saturday’s by-election – Source

Worried by the unabated rejection of its candidate in the Aba North/Aba South by-election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has concluded plans to rig the forthcoming elections slated for Saturday, March 27th.

According to a competent source who was present in a nocturnal meeting alongside other high ranking officials of the party, held yesterday in the home of Erondu Uchenna Erondu Jnr; the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, the PDP perfected its plan to mobilise thugs numbering over 3,000.

They would start arriving in their twenties and fifties from tomorrow being Tuesday.

The source, also a chieftain of the PDP who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the thugs will be imported from some selected towns in Rivers, Anambra (Aguleri to be specific), Akwa-Ibom and Ebonyi states.

According to the source, the thugs would be recruited into Abia State, via different boundary towns.

The confidential source while revealing how PDP feels betrayed by Abians as a result of the soaring popularity and wide acceptance of its rival, Hon Mascot Uzor Kalu of the APC by the people in Aba, It stated that it would be a herculean task for the PDP to deploy its customary tactics of vote buying on election day, hence the plot to deploy thugs to instigate mayhem at polling units where the people may attempt to resist them.

The PDP, the source disclosed, planned to distribute permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) already cloned to the thugs for use at polling units.

It has also been revealed that the thugs would be housed in homes of some PDP leaders for integration into the communities in which they will be deployed on election day with Erondu housing about 500 thugs from Aguleri.

In the meeting, it was concluded to ensure that voting is disrupted in major polling units particularly in wards that are considered to be predominantly strongholds of the APC.

It was further revealed that the PDP has also concluded arrangements to invade polling units with people with fake PVCs, an arrangement its plans to execute with some compromised staff of the Independent Electoral Commission to give them fake accreditation.

The source said: ”I just hope we win because majority of the stakeholders in PDP are not satisfied with the current situation, honestly asides, being a junior secondary school drop out, Ebisike’s candidature is uninspiring and he has an appalling record in the state, which can be addicted to his glaring rejection by the people of Aba.

“From being a Transitional Committee Chairman of Aba North to being a Commissioner for Special Duties to being Chairman of Covid19 Taskforce, Ebisike has performed abysmally in all the tasks which were assigned to him, this has made it very difficult for us to market him. Some of our people are also dissatisfied with the performance of our Governor most especially in the non-payment of salaries and pensions, all these are not helping matters”

“As it stands we have no other choice than to deploy ‘machineries from neighborhood states to assist us in winning this election , because we cannot afford to lose, I can’t say more than this please”, said the source.

Recent survey shows that it’s been an uphill task to market the PDP candidate Chimaobi Ebisike, across the wards in Aba North/ Aba South, recently he was booed on the streets of Aba, Abia state during his campaign tour visit to the city.

Ebisike had triggered the anger of Aba residents when he suggested that only Ngwa people are qualified to represent the city at the Federal level.

His uninspiring address was repeatedly interrupted by rowdiness from residents, who repeatedly chanted, “Ebisike is a failure! PDP is a failure!”. It took the intervention of some leaders and members of the party present to pacify the enraged bystanders.

Ebisike’s flag-off greeted with noticeably empty streets as only a few persons (bearing PDP materials and apparently in his campaign trail) cheered him. Except when he made the controversial remark, most road users and traders didn’t even notice, or simply ignored his presence.

Reaching out to a top source among the Nigerian security agencies on the plot, it was revealed that the security agencies have received similar intelligence reports on the planned invasion of the state with thugs to cause havoc on the election day.

The source vowed that the security agencies consisting of both the Police, Nigeria Army, DSS have been placed on red alert and vowed to deal decisively with any group or person caught in any act of violence or manipulation including their sponsors regardless their political affiliation.