Politics
Party Blasts APC Over Performance Claims
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, over the performance claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, saying the only legitimate achievement of the ruling party is corruption.
PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba, on Monday, dismissed the press conference addressed by the Minister of Information and Culture, describing his claims as another anthology of lies.
According to the PDP, the hurried press conference is another desperate and disoriented stunt by the APC administration to divert public attention from the exposed corruption records of the APC national leadership.
The major opposition party also lambasted the minister over alleged attempts to divert public attention from the manifest collapse of security, command and control structure under President Muhammadu Buhari.
It also lamented the alleged excruciating economic hardship, hunger and other life discounting experiences being faced by Nigerians daily because of severe food crisis, lingering fuel emergency, high cost of essential commodities and services, closure of schools, insecurity and mass killing, collapse of healthcare system and decayed public infrastructure under APC.
The opposition party described as the height of impunity and arrogance the claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, that the APC government had achieved food sufficiency, particularly in rice production.
The statement partly read “A bag of rice which sold for N7,500 under the PDP now sells for over N30,000, a measure of beans which sold for N350 under the PDP now sells for over N1000, a measure of garri which sold for N120 under the PDP now sells for N700, a bottle of palm oil which sold for N250 under the PDP now sells for over N1000.
“In the same vein, a kilo of meat which sold for N700 under the PDP now sells for N3000, a liter of petrol which sold for N87 under the PDP now sells for as high as N400 to N500 while a liter of diesel which sold for N110 under the PDP now sells for over N800, yet Lai Mohammed provocatively claims that Nigerians are better off under the APC.
“Nigerians know better and the question to ask is, Is your life better now in 2022 under the APC than it was in 2015 under the PDP?
“It is ludicrous and insensitive that the APC government went to the media to list non-existence roads, bridges, agricultural and health projects as achievements. More pathetic is the APC’s attempt to claim credit for development projects initiated and implemented by successive PDP administrations including our railways, aviation, agricultural, healthcare, education, telecommunications, banking and manufacturing sectors, among others”.
PDP said it was laughable that the APC government was also claiming credit for critical projects in various parts of the country which were being funded by resources mobilized by the PDP administrations.
It insisted that, the only legitimate achievements of the APC government include its corruption record (second most corrupt in West Africa and 154 out of 180 in Global Corruption Index), over 33 percent unemployment rate, a weakened currency at over N500 to a dollar, N33 trillion foreign debt and still counting and the siphoning of over N16 trillion by APC leaders.
PDP cautioned the APC that its continued arrogance in failure was having a toll on Nigerians and the consequences were better imagined.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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