The Abia State Government has refuted claims by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that it is planning to organize protests to sway the judgment of election petition tribunal in the State.
The government also refuted the PDP’s allegations that it is preparing to wreck havoc in the State in the event that the judgement went against them.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Alex Otti, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, stated that the claims were made by dishonest officials who had served in the immediate past PDP administration in the State, whose condition has worsened since they are unable to access public cash.
He described the PDP accusations as deceptive fiction and a childish tactic.
He stated that the PDP and its candidates have been traveling across the country with money in an unsuccessful attempt to find people to pay in order to influence the judges.
The statement in part: “Even though the Labour Party is the ruling party, we have conducted ourselves with decency and decorum by refusing to unleash hoodlums in and around the tribunal premises like the PDP and the former government did during their tenure. Facts on ground can clearly prove that the PDP and its army of thugs have been the ones constituting nuisance through their actions and utterances, on the wrong assumption that their poor siege strategy would stampede the justices to hand over undeserved victory to them.”
The Abia State Government and the ruling Labour Party were allegedly organizing a group of people to hold a protest in the state with the intention of influencing the election petitions tribunal, according to a statement issued by the PDP on Thursday.
The statement’s vice chairman, Abraham Amah, also stated that Labour party and officials of the Dr. Alex Otti’s administration were concerned that the electoral petitions tribunal’s decision might not be in their favour