APC threatens to drag PDP to ICC

As Nigerians are gearing up for the forthcoming elections , the never ending rivalry between the pdp and its main opposition party, the apc has hit a new twist and turn

The presidential campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress has said it will  submit a petition against President Goodluck Jonathan to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

The organisation said in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday that the petition followed the massive terror unleashed on the residents of Lagos by armed pro-Jonathan groups under the dubious cover of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC).

The ethnic militia groups had last Monday organised a road protest in Lagos  demanding the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega,  over alleged mishandling of the affairs of the commission.

However, the APC campaign spokesman said the machete-wielding and gun-bearing armed pro-Jonathan groups marched round the major streets of Lagos, harassing and intimidating motorists, chanting anti-Jega songs in a manner that gave them away as acting the carefully-prepared script for the truncation of the general election.

“There was a disruption to of the tranquility of the city that warranted the citizens scampering for safety in all directions, a foretaste of the violence they plan to unleash on election day.

“Our investigations have confirmed that the March 16 show was a dress-rehearsal for the main disruption planned for the general election. Lagos, and the entire South-west, being a stronghold of the APC, has been marked for massive  commotion that would involve killings, maiming and kidnapping.

“Our findings have further shown that the recent N9 billion pipeline surveillance contract to OPC and some militant groups in Southern Nigeria was the elixir for the latest crude impudence of the pro-Jonathan armed groups. Indeed, the contract award was indeed a subterfuge for the mobilisation of these murderous militant groups for the destruction of lives and property to force the desire of the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan on the Nigerian people.

“As an opposition party we are using this medium to serve President Jonathan the notice of our formal protest of this extreme show of impunity to the ICC. We are aware that Mrs. Patience Jonathan is already on the watch list of ICC. The activities of this president and his wife as regards the elections are not patriotic and very unhelpful for entrenching democratic values in the nation.

“We recall the bombing of the APC secretariat and the shootings and disruption of the party’s campaign rally in Okirika in Rivers State, where the first lady hails from with a muted silence from President Jonathan.

“Whereas the police authorities had denied the opposition party its legitimate and democratic rights to organise one-million-person-march for Buhari in Kano, it was, however, quick to approve that in Lagos, providing security for the pro-Jonathan armed groups while they unleashed mayhem on citizens in Lagos last Monday, a day that residents of the city consider the most important of the week.

“We are not ready to cower to the intimidation of Jonathan, ahead of the general election. We believe Nigerians shall speak eloquently on  March 28 and this brutality on the psyche of the Nigerian people shall cease,” Shehu said.

Meanwhile, the former Vice-President and chieftain of the APC,  Atiku Abubakar, has disowned the groups said to be affiliated to him, which have decamped from the APC to the Peopes Democratic Party (PDP).
Atiku said he has no knowledge of the group of politicians who announced their defection to PDP.

The former vice-president said in a statement by his media office in Abuja that he remains a committed member of the APC and urged that the purported defections of the groups be discountenanced.

In another development, the APC has raised the alarm over the possibility of disruption of elections  in Okrika  and Ogu/Bolo Local Government Areas of Rivers State due to alleged plan by the PDP to use security agencies to arrest its leaders and sympathisers before the election day.

In a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the party also alleged that about  10 of its leaders in the two local government areas might be kidnapped before the election day.

The Chairmen of the APC in the two local government areas, Christian Asifamaka (Okrika) and Chief Israel Iboms (Ogu/Bolo), wrote the petition on behalf of the party.

Among the APC leaders who the petitioners claimed were penciled down to be kidnapped before the polls are Mr. Arisky, Chief Jonah Tamuno, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari,, Maureen Tamuno, Chief Israel Iboms, Christian Asifamaka, Tamuno Williams, Abiye Amakiri, Dr. Emmanuel Iruayenama and TSB Ibuluyam.

The petition, titled: ‘RE: Threat to peaceful elections in Okrika and Ogu/Bolo Local Government Areas of Rivers State, Nigeria’ read in part:  “Now the PDP and its Abuja authority have finalised plans to prevent the APC in these local government areas from voting in the forthcoming elections.

“This they intended by using all the security agencies to arrest our leaders, party agents and community leaders who are sympathetic to APC a few days before the elections on false charges.”

A copy of the petition obtained yesterday was dated March 17, 2015 and it bore the stamp of the NHRC showing that it was received at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on the same date.

The petition was addressed to, the Chairman of the NHRC’s Governing Council, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu. The petitioners called on the NHRC to investigate their complaints because the threats against the leaders and sympathisers of the APC in the two local government areas could not be taken lightly.

The petitioners said: “Based on the above and judging from the antecedents of the source of these threats, we urge you to take immediate and adequate steps to prevent further massive violation our rights and pray you to investigate and bring perpetrators of the complained acts of human rights violation to justice.

“We urge you to give our letter deserved urgent attention.”

The petitioners called for NHRC’s intervention even as they accused the police of refusing to investigate their complaints of serial attacks on their offices and rallies in violation of their fundamental rights.

The petition further reads in part, “Contrary to the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended, in Okrika and Ogu/Bolo Local Government Areas, the APC was stopped from undertaking its legitimate pre-election activities to wit:
“(i) APC party offices in Okrika was burnt down on the January 11, 2015. Till date police have not done anything.

“(ii) The campaign office of APC governorship candidate was also bombed and destroyed in Okrika.

“(iii) On January 24, 2015, APC gubernatorial campaign rally in Okrika was violently disrupted by gunmen who claimed they were acting based on orders from Abuja. This led to the cancellation of the same in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area slated for January 25, 2015..”

source: thisday.com