Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the President Goodluck Jonathan administration of sponsoring ethnic militias to foment trouble before, during and after the forthcoming general elections, saying the N9 billion recently paid out to some ex-militants and ethnic militias is aimed at mobilizing them to scuttle the polls.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the protests by the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, last week seeking the sack of Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was
orchestrated by the administration as part of its continuing efforts to sabotage the elections.

It said the next group that has been mobilized to protest against Jega and the use of card reader is the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, which is also a beneficiary of the 9 billion Naira payout ostensibly for
pipeline protection, but in reality to prepare the ethnic militias for their reprehensible role in scuttling the elections.

APC said more ethnic militias are to be enlisted by the Jonathan administration to continue the protest against Jega and the card reader, in order to give the impression that Nigerians want Jega sacked and are also against the use of card reader.

The party expressed sadness that a President who inherited a united nation has done everything he can to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines, including patronizing ethnic militias who serve
no other purpose than to champion sectional interests at the expense of national unity.

It wondered why President Jonathan would pay N9 billion to a handful of people at a time of great economic downturn and falling naira, as well as in a situation in which many states cannot even
afford to pay their workers because of dwindling allocation from the Federation Account.

“A profligate government that has been bribing people with dollars and ferrying huge funds around practically to buy votes has outdone itself by paying out all of N9 billion to a few Nigerians, with
less than three weeks to the elections.

“Shortly after the payment, some self-serving groups started organising protests that, for all intents and purposes, are being orchestrated to scuttle the polls.

“This is a shameful show by the federal government,” APC said.