Opposition conspiring with foreigners to scuttle electionas - FG alleges

Opposition conspiring with foreigners to scuttle elections - FG alleges

The federal government has again raised the alarm of alleged plans by the opposition to scuttle the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

The allegation was made by the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, February 4.

Alhaji Mohammed had earlier raised a similar alarm on Monday, January 21 in a similar briefing. In the fresh allegation the minister claimed the opposition are not campaigning to win the election, but are busy planning how to scuttle or discredit it.

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He said: "As I said at my last press conference, the alarm we raised is based on credible intelligence. ''Today, still based on credible intelligence, we can reveal that the opposition is moving a step further.

''They are working hard to discredit the forthcoming election before, during and after the polls.

''Specifically, they are sending a delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to push the concocted line that the Buhari administration has perfected the plan to rig the polls.

''They are therefore pushing for a rejection of the results if the president wins re-election.

They are also predicting carnage in the event of the president's victory."

The minister also said the opposition has targeted, for attack, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Police Force.

''Their strategy is simple: Discredit the election even before it is held, and continue during and after the polls with a view to convincing the West - which they believe they have won to their side using lobbyist-propelled propaganda - that the election is not credible," he added.

He reiterated that the Buhari administration is committed to a free, fair, credible and peaceful polls, adding that the government is glad that local and international observers are already fully mobilised to monitor the election.

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"We call on all Nigerians to be vigilant as we begin the final countdown to the election. Eternal vigilance, as the saying goes, is the price of liberty.

"We must not allow desperate politicians to crash our democracy on the altar of their personal - and sometimes inordinate - ambition," he added.

Meanwhile, the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the All Progressives Congress and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of plotting to falsely accuse and intimidate 200 judges of the federal judiciary.

The governor, who claimed to have heard this from a minister, said the plan is to destabilize the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and Federal High Court, Vanguard reports. He made this statement at a church service at the Greater Evangelism World Crusade, in Port Harcourt on Sunday, February 3.