CUPP Accuses Army Chief, IG of Plot to Compromise Presidential Election

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has again raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Presidency and All Progressives (APC) government to rig the rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly elections through a skewed deployment of security forces and using them to deny the people their will to choose their leaders.

The opposition coalition alleged that the method to be employed by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Burutai, and the acting Inspector General of Police ( IGP) Mohammed Adamu to compromise the presidential election is by intimidating and harassing voters, blocking of opposition agents from collation centres, arrest of opposition leaders, party agents and media practitioners in the field.

The coalition also alleged that the instructions include leading of APC chieftains to swap already thumb printed ballot papers and filled in result sheets and ultimately use of lethal force against citizens who oppose them.
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere, CUPP alleged that Buratai has been promised that he would continue in office as the Chief of Army Staff if the president wins despite his tenure being extended for several years after he was due for retirement.

According to CUPP, "The Inspector General of Police (IG) has a similar promise also and has been sucked in. It is more worrisome that despite knowing the standard rules of engagement and the obvious consequences of purported obedience to unlawful orders, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen.Tukur Buratai, without any modicum of shame, publicly accepted that the army will obey the partisan instructions of President Muhammadu Buhari and violate the rights of citizens and be involved in the elections."

The coalition further revealed that it is in possession of irrefutable evidence that Police and Army Commanders in many states including Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kwara, Imo Delta and Benue States have been holding strategy meetings with APC leaders in those states on how to undermine credible elections. 

According to the CUPP,  based on the foregoing, the opposition parties was passing a nationwide vote of no confidence on the acting IGP and the Chief of Army Staff. 

"President Buhari is desperate; he knows defeat is staring him in the face. He has only himself to blame for frittering away the massive goodwill of the people. He will be defeated and there is nothing he can do about it. Hence he has turned the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police into the most potent threats to free and fair elections in Nigeria," CUPP alleged.

It called on the international community to hold the Chief of Army staff and the acting IGP personally responsible "for the loss of innocent lives during the election by reason of their directing their men to execute the unlawful and  undemocratic  orders of President Muhammadu Buhari."