The Federal Government has urged the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom to keep an eye on the activities of "desperate opposition" ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made this call in a statement released in Ilorin, Kwara State on Friday, January 25, 2019, a day after both governments vowed to sanction perpetrators of violence before, during and after the elections.

They announced that certain violations would meet stiff consequences, including visa restrictions for perpetrators of violence and their families. They called for a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful electoral process.

In reaction to the statements, Mohammed said they should keep a close tab on the opposition who he recently accused of planning to disrupt the 2019 general elections by mobilising violent groups, including Boko Haram terrorists, to stage attacks in several states in the country.

He said, "A few days ago, we alerted the nation to the plot by the opposition to orchestrate widespread violence in the country, using insurgents and criminal elements within and outside the country.

"Their plan is to scuttle the election and then push for an interim government, having realized they can't win free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.

"The fact that those statements came after we issued our red alert, which is based on credible intelligence, shows that the international community is closely monitoring events ahead of the election.

"We urge them to keep a close tab on the desperate opposition, whose language, actions and undisguised threats are antithetical to the conduct of peaceful polls."

The minister further accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of attacking the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) so as to jeopardise confidence in the results of the elections which he said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will comfortably win.

He said the PDP is the only party with a history of rigging elections in the country and the only one that the international community should be concerned about.

He said, "The party that has a history of rigging polls is well known to Nigerians. The party that has a history of using security forces to unleash violence in order to steal the people's votes is well known to Nigerians.

"The party that organized an election that was later described as flawed by its own 'winning' presidential candidate is well known to Nigerians. That party is not the All Progressives Congress (APC)."

2019 general elections

The 2019 general elections will kick off with the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will take place on March 2.

A total of 84,004,084 are registered to vote in the elections.