Anambra: PDP congress fiasco, foretaste of 2011 election – AC

By Olasunkanmi Akoni
The Action Congress (AC), has described the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Anambra ward congress as posing a grave danger to the forthcoming 2011 general election and danger to Nigeria’s democracy.

AC’s National Publicity Secretary,  Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a reaction to the development said the thuggery and rigging witnessed at the party’s ward congress in Anambra on Monday were signs of what to expect at the 2011 general elections.

It said if the congress of a  party in one state can witness the kind of violence, rigging and ballot box/election materials snatching recorded at the PDP ward congress in Anambra State, one can then imagine what will happen in an election involving other political parties.

“We have said it before and we have now been justified: PDP thrives on violence and rigging, whether during intra-party or inter-party elections. That is the only reason this rampaging behemoth has been ‘winning’ elections.

“Imagine that soldiers had to be drafted for a mere ward congress of one party in just one state! That means in 2011, we may need some nuclear arsenal to prevent a PDP-led violence and rigging across the country,’’ AC said.

The party said the only reason for the “desperation of the 47 starry-eyed PDP gubernatorial aspirants” in Anambra – as shown by the violence in the state – is their awareness that whoever grabs the party’s ticket, by hook or crook, is guaranteed victory at the governorship polls next year, because the PDP’s co-traveller in election manipulation and thuggery – Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC) and the Police – will deliver victory to the party, whether or not its candidate wins!

AC said with the collusion of INEC and the Police and the acquiescence of those in power, the PDP is set to foment unprecedented trouble during the 2011 elections, unless of course the people can muster enough courage to finally dismantle the tattered umbrella of the PDP.