Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has accused the All Progressives
Congress (APC) of perfecting a plan to tamper with card readers in order
to favour the ruling party, depending on its popularity in each of the
six geopolitical zones in the country.
Speaking in Abuja on
Tuesday at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party,
Atiku said APC is in possession of telephone-like devices that will slow
down the card readers in the three regions where APC is not the
strongest while fast-tracking it in the zones where the party is strong.
This,
he claimed, means hordes of voters will be disenfranchised in the zones
where APC is not favoured to win, while voting will be expedited in
xones where the party is favoured to win.
"We have just
discovered that the APC have hired many of their operatives and have
taken them to China to be trained, and they have been so trained, and
they are back, and they are equipped with devices that are meant to slow
or fasten our card readers," Atiku said.
"So, if you are in the
South-South, South-East and North-Central, you are likely to get your
card readers to be slowed by those APC operatives. We have seen the
machines; we have interviwed some of those who have gone on this
training, and we have passed that information to the campaign council to
pass to you.
"But if you are from the North-West, North-East or
Sout-West, the tendency is that they will use these machines to
fast-track the readings of your card readers, so that many of their
supporters can vote while disenfranchising the other three zones. I
thought you should know that we have supplied the information to the
campaign council, and you will even see the copy of the machine which
each and everyone of those operatives is to hold. It is like a telephone
but that is its job. I felt I should let you know, and you should be
guided accordingly."
