THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has observed that the order by President Muhammadu Buhari to the military to kill ballot snatchers during the coming election is a call to jungle justice.
Reacting to the statement by the president at the Monday All Progressives Congress (APC) National Caucus meeting in Abuja, the main opposition party feared that the call may be a ploy by the APC to shoot innocent Nigerians.
It also said President Buhari’s threat to the lives of Nigerians is an attempt to divert public attention from their closed session where details of their dastardly plot to truncate the nation’s democratic process will be perfected.
A statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary and Director, Media & Publicity PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation said: “We do hope that this call by President Buhari is not a camouflage for the fake soldiers mobilised by the APC to shoot at innocent Nigerians, snatch ballot boxes and execute their rigging plans on the election day. It is indeed a license to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilised nation.
“The underlining fact to the above is that President Buhari and APC leaders, upon getting to their voting constituencies last Saturday, realised that there is a nationwide rejection of Buhari’s re-election bid, and this has thrown them into a panic mode.
“President Buhari must, however, bear in mind that his resort to threats and scaremongering will not deter Nigerians from coming out en-masse to vote him out of office on February 23.
“We are aware that President Buhari, who had earlier boasted that nobody can ‘unseat’ him, is bent on using every dictatorial and tyrannical act to truncate the process of a free, fair and credible election.”
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The PDP further warned of an alleged plot to trigger widespread political crisis to derail the nation’s democratic process and plunge the country into anarchy.
The party also noted that intelligence available to it shows that the Buhari Presidency has directed the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately reshuffle the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in order to deploy “compromised officials” to manipulate the electoral process in President Buhari’s favour, as they did with the police shortly before February 16.
The statement added: ”Our party is also aware of the pressure being mounted by the Buhari Presidency on INEC to cancel elections in some states and make others inconclusive so as to achieve President Buhari’s objectives of a staggered election not minding the crisis such will trigger across the federation.
“We want Nigerians and the international community to hold President Buhari personally responsible for any electoral crisis, otherwise he will, as usual, claim that he was not aware of the plots and transfer the blame to Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi.
“It is already known that President Buhari has been unrelenting in his attempts to subdue our democracy by trying to subjugate the legislature, emasculate the judiciary and seize control of the electoral umpire.
“Nevertheless, the PDP wants to assure President Buhari that our nation is bigger than him and that Nigerians will never allow him and the APC to rig this election.
“Nigerians have reached an irreversible democratic consensus to vote Buhari out and elect the Peoples Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is ready to rescue our nation from the hardship, anguish, agony and bloodletting which the Buhari administration has plunged us.”
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