APC raises alarm on plan to arrest Tinubu

The party said if the plan hatched by PDP to decimate APC is carried out, it will put the country into chaos. The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the allegation yesterday (Saturday) at a press briefing in Lagos. He said, “Without mincing words, we are aware that a ‘Red Alert’ has been […]

The party said if the plan hatched by PDP to decimate APC is carried out, it will put the country into chaos.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the allegation yesterday (Saturday) at a press briefing in Lagos. He said, “Without mincing words, we are aware that a ‘Red Alert’ has been sent to the EFCC to arrest the national leader of our party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up charges anytime from now.

“In addition, anyone who is suspected of being a financier of the APC is to be arrested, all in efforts to decapitate the main opposition party which is undoubtedly cruising to victory in the forthcoming elections.

“As part of the offensive against the APC in the days ahead, there is a plan to freeze the accounts of companies, individuals and organisations believed to be financing the party, with the ultimate objective of crippling the party so that it won’t be able to sustain its activities, like paying its agents on election day and other logistics,” he said.

The APC spokesman stated further: “We can tell you that this planned arrest is orchestrated by the same people who have sponsored a series of petitions to the EFCC, on the basis of the same documentary against Asiwaju which they also masterminded. It may sound like an intrigue, but that is exactly what it is.”

Lai Muhammed recalled that during the meeting of the PDP Governors in Lagos on March 10, Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State said openly that all that needs to be done to break the APC is to arrest two of its leaders, adding that apparently, Lamido was referring to Tinubu and APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

He said that the current move to arrest Tinubu and anyone they suspect to be a financier of the party fits into the alarm the party raised earlier and the open threat by Governor Lamido, adding; “That explains the desperation being exhibited by the PDP-led Jonathan administration to arrest Tinubu whom they see as the arrowhead of the opposition, believing that this will cripple our party and stop the momentum we have gained.”

He noted that the six-week postponement of the elections, which the PDP government at the centre orchestrated with the objective of slowing down APC’s momentum and giving the government time to regain lost ground, has failed to achieve that objective, hence the resort to dirtier tactics of framing up APC leaders just to put them away.

On the alleged APC Radio Station, which PDP claimed is being used to destabilize the polity, Muhammed explained that his party has nothing to do with the radio station.

“We state categorically that we have nothing to do with that radio station. We believe strongly that the radio station is the handiwork of the same people who are accusing us of establishing it. Their main reason for setting up the station is simple; to use it as another excuse to clamp down on our leaders.

“They are the ones who set up the station. They are the ones who announced its establishment to the whole country and now they are the ones who are trying to leverage it to arrest our leaders.

“We are not surprised at the increasing resort to dirty tactics by the PDP-led Jonathan administration. It fits into the pattern of the administration’s abuse of federal institutions, including the police, the military and the regulatory agencies, to harass and intimidate the opposition.

“It is also a reflection of the desperation of the Jonathan government to make sure that Nigeria is plunged into chaos by sabotaging the elections. As we have always said, this President is not interested in a free, fair, credible and violence-free polls. That is why it can even contemplate the arrest of opposition leaders on trumped-up charges, hoping that it will trigger a crisis that will either scuttle the polls or pave the way for anti-democratic forces to short-circuit our country’s democracy,” he said.

He therefore alerted Nigerians to what he described as “ Planned evil machinations of the Jonathan government and the PDP to throw Nigeria into crisis. We also call on our country’s international friends to take note of the desperate tactics of the duo and to do whatever they can to prevail on them not to plunge the country into chaos.

“Election is not war, but a celebration of democracy. Nigeria must not be allowed to be plunged into crisis for whatever reason. This is because the consequences will be dire, not just for our country and her citizens but for the entire West African region and indeed all of Africa.

Despite the ominous cloud that is gathering over our nation, we remain optimistic that the anarchists behind the efforts to destabilize our country will not succeed. We remain optimistic that the will of the people of Nigeria will prevail over that of a cabal that is hell bent on holding on to power at all cost,” he said.