Don't Dare To Rig 2015 Presidential Polls, APC Tells PDP

Less than eight months before the presidential election scheduled to hold early next year in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to dare to rig the polls.

Daily Sun reported that this statement was made by the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Oyegun, while speaking at the grand finale of the campaign for re-election of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in Osun state.

According to the party chairman, any attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government to rig the 2015 election in favour of the PDP would consume his government.

Oyegun, who spoke against the backdrop of alleged under-development in most parts of the country, said the PDP had no meaningful programme for the masses of Nigeria.

He also stressed that President Jonathan's administration was the worst in the history of Nigeria.

"The battleline has already been drawn. The APC will no longer accept any stolen mandate. We shall not recognize any government that emerges through rigging in February 2015.

"The APC will set up a new government, which will be a people's government if the PDP rigs the 2015 presidential election. We are prepared to monitor the election and if it is eventually rigged, a new government will emerge in this country," Oyegun stated.

On the upcoming gubernatorial polls in Osun state, Oyegun expressed optimism that Governor Aregbesola would win convincingly, adding that "let no one tamper with the Osun governorship election, any attempt to rig the election will not be allowed by the APC."

Oyegun, who handed over the party's flag to former governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who formally joined the APC at the event, declared that Aregbesola would emerge the next governor of the state.

Meanwhile, while speaking on the occasion, Oyinlola blamed the leadership of the PDP and President Jonathan for his defection to the APC, saying his defection was occasioned by the humiliation and cheating he suffered in the party.

The former governor of Osun state recalled that trouble started for him in 2011 when he advised President Jonathan to consult former President Olusegun Obasanjo on his intention to contest the 2011 presidential election.

He urged all the Nigerians to vote out the PDP from the government at the centre, saying the party did not mean well for Nigerians, just as he called on other members of the PDP in the state to team up with him in the APC.

The Osun guber election is expected to be a tight race between APC's Governor Aregbesola and PDP's Sen. Iyiola Omisore.