Newspaper review: PDP raises alarm, claims APC is busy plotting to rig 2019 elections

The newspaper review for Monday, December 17, leads with an allegation by the PDP that the APC is planning to rig the 2019 elections.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is plotting to rig the 2019 elections.

The Nation reports that the main opposition party in a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday, December 16, claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in constituting a campaign council or develop a clear-cut campaign blueprint 61 days to the election was proof that the current administration was planning to rig the poll.

APC is plotting to rig 2019 elections - PDP alleges

Punch newspaper for Monday, December 17, credits: snapshot from Legit.ng
Source: Depositphotos

“All over the world, patriotic and obligated leaders, who are seeking (re-) elections, go to the electorate to canvass for votes with their messages and solutions. But our President and the APC have been busy procuring phony endorsements, harassing and intimidating opposition leaders, compromising the electoral body to create illegal voting centres, delaying election budgets and holding the process to ransom by refusing to sign amendments to the Electoral Act that eliminate avenues for rigging," the statement read in party.

“President Buhari, who is already reputed to have wrecked our once robust economy, crippled our critical sectors, entrenched corruption at the high places, and whose administration has dangerously divided our nation with escalated violence and daily bloodletting, is seeking re-election with no solution to offer on any critical sector of our economy.

“Mr. President has nothing to offer on security; he has no message on education, agriculture, health, energy, power, employment, manufacturing and other key sectors, which he wrecked in the last three and half years."

However, the APC has dismissed the PDP’s allegation and questioned why the opposition party was more interested in its campaign.

Still on politics, the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to step down following his reported statement that the nation’s economy was in bad shape.

Buhari was said to have made the statement during his meeting with the 36 governors at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Friday, December 14.

The Punch reports that Atiku in a statement through his special assistant on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused the president of trying to get a soft landing from Nigerians over his performance.

Punch newspaper for Monday, December 17, credits: snapshot from Legit.ng
Source: Depositphotos

“The result, of course, is his confession of failure on the eve of our general elections in the hope that millions of Nigerians, whom he has condemned to poverty and hardship, will give him a clap for failing abysmally,” he said.

“I dare say that President Buhari has miscalculated badly on this matter because Nigerians are simply fed up with him.

“The economy has collapsed under his watch and he has by this frank remark admitted that he has no idea on how to fix it and that is why he summoned the governors to help him.

“This is really very sad because President Buhari has run out of time and what Nigerians need now is leadership which has the political will, administrative experience and sound economic acumen to get Nigeria working again.

In another report, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is ready to collaborate with the EFCC and other security agencies to check election vote buying and other election malpractices in the country.

Vanguard reports that INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at an interactive session with the commission’s youth ambassadors and celebrities in Lagos, on Saturday night, December 15, said electorates will not be allowed to bring in their cell phones into the polling cubicle during the 2019 polls.

Vanguard newspaper for Monday, December 17, credits: snapshot from Legit.ng
Source: Depositphotos

“The commission will partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and other security agencies because we are determined to conduct an election Nigerians will be proud of,” he said.

Meanwhile, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), have sent a joint Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the chief of army staff (COAS), Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, demanding for information on the 2015, 2016 and 2017 budget implementation reports of the Nigerian Army.

Guardian reports that the organisations have threatened to institute legal action under the Freedom of Information Act compelling the office of the COAS to comply with their demands if the information is not provided within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of the letter.

This Guardian newspaper for Monday, December 17, credits: snapshot from Legit.ng
Source: Depositphotos

To business news, two major banks in the country, Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank have officially signing a Memorandum of Agreement relating to a merger.

This Day reports that the merger if approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), will move Access Bank, the principal partner, from number four to number two or number one in the nation’s banking hierarchy, if the current growth trajectory of Access Bank is maintained.